Follow Your Heart Until It Sticks
by rowansmuse
Summary: Jughead broke Betty's heart that night, the night she tried to pledge herself to him by doing the Serpent dance. But she has an idea to get him back, and she enlists the help of another young serpent who likes the idea of making Jones squirm. Will her plan end up with them back together? Somewhat AU; Betty x Jughead and Betty x Sweet Pea
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This plot has pretty much been running around my head all weekend and mentally... its finished. I just need time to type it all out. 4 chapters in 1 night is my limit but I will update more soon. I've been reading a bunch of Betty/Sweet Pea fics lately and that truly inspired this story. To me I see his character as broody, a player, but very insecure. Betty doesn't know if she is weak or strong. Together, it's either bliss or a mess so I guess you will soon see-

Chapter 1

Jughead was walking away from Betty and she just couldn't stand for another moment. It was still ringing in her ears as she sunk down to sit on the sidewalk, "until it sticks". Her heart was broken, she was ashamed, and worst: she was alone. Her friends had gone and her mother was long gone. All she could do was sob into FPs serpent jacket that he has put around her shoulders after she finished a "performance" she thought would unite her with Jughead forever, but ended up tearing them apart. She had wanted to be in his world but he wanted her out. How could she be so stupid? She loved him with everything she had. When she was with him she had stars in her eyes and wore fire. She was strong, passionate, and courageous. She could do anything. Without him… she didn't know what to do. Her family was disintegrating and she needed him. He was her anchor. She had to get him back. Somehow she had to make him understand that they were meant to be together; that they were endgame. When she wiped her eyes with her fingers and opened them she saw a pair of dirty tennis shoes in front of her. She looked up and for a moment her heart leapt, thinking that Jughead had come back, but instead in front of her stood another member of serpents. He was squinting as her town on the pavement and it almost looked like he was sizing her up. "Hey, are you ok, Northsider?" he asked. It was starting to rain lightly.

"Does it look like I'm ok?" she retorted as she sniffled.

"Not really. You are a long way from home, little girl; and you should leave before you really get hurt. Those guys that saw you in there… they might try to take advantage of this situation. Anyone can look like a shoulder to cry on, but don't forget, you are in a snake den."

Betty dried her eyes and wiped down her damp hair and put it up in a ponytail. The rain was making her hair a mess and it was dripping into her eyes.

"Thanks for the warning-?"

"Sweet Pea," he answered her.

"Betty," she introduced herself, "Betty Cooper."

"I know who you are, Northsider." She looked away. "Where's your man? He should be here protecting you."

She shifted and answered still not looking at him, "he's gone. And I don't know how to get him back."

Sweet Pea looked down at Betty with pity. Jughead ruined everything he touched. He took this beautiful girl and broke her down to nothing, just as it seemed he had been doing to the serpents since he started coming around. "You don't need Jones," he said breaking the momentary silence. He smirked and added, "maybe you need a real man for a night. I can give you a ride," pauses, "in more ways than one. I've never had a Northside girl before."

"Uh thanks for the offer," Betty said incredulously, " but I think that's the last thing I need."

"Well, if you change your mind I will be inside. But I really would get out of here quickly, not everyone is as accommodating around here as I am." Sweet Pea winked and then turned and went into the Wyrm and Betty watched him go. Just great, she thought to herself. I'm stuck here I've been dumped and someone is already trying to pick up the leftovers.

She stood up and dramatically dusted herself off. She thought she had been given good advice, it was probably best if she just gave up and went home. There was nothing left to do on the Southside tonight. The rain had since stopped but it was still chilly so she pulled FPs jacket closer around herself. She turned to head home when she had an idea. Maybe there WAS something she could do, a way to get Jughead to realize he had made a mistake. That he couldnt live with out her either. She had tried to appeal to Jughead's romantic side and he still broke up with her. But what if she tried to get on his jealous side? Maybe that would just work.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Betty found her resolve somewhere between the curb and the door and burst into the bar with a bang. Most everyone looked up from their drinks or their pool games for a moment, some smirked, some just ignored her. Betty's cheeks burned but she fought the embarrassment and marched right up to Sweet Pea who was laughing at a joke that another young serpent, Toni Topaz, had just told him. She took off FPs jacket and set it on the bar, she now was just clothed in her lingerie that she had worn on stage, and she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and at the sight of her spit out his drink. "Northsider," he said, "did you change your mind about that ride?" She looked him in the face and said "maybe." Sweet Pea got up, pushed in his stool, and handed Toni his beer. Toni shook her head as she watched her friend start to lead Betty away and brought FPs jacket back behind the bar. No matter what she was doing, Betty was making a huge mistake going anywhere with Sweet Pea. He hated Northsiders almost as much as hated Jughead. She felt like she was missing a huge part of this story but she thought Jughead would be pissed when he found out that they had just headed off to the dorms. She unlocked her phone and sent a quick text, asking Jones to call her ASAP.

Sweet Pea hurried Betty inside his room in the back of the Whyte Wyrm. The building dated back to when most bars were also inns, and many of the old rooms had been taken up by members of the serpents. Some were kids in the system who either couldn't stand their families or had been kicked out when they joined the gang. Some rooms were occupied by members too poor to live in Sunnyside Trailer Park and the rest were taken up by officers in the club who needed a place to crash when the party got too hard. Sweet Pea had been living there on and off for a couple of years since he grandfather died, no foster home could keep him for long. He would just run away and they would send him somewhere new. This last family though, their old man, George, was a serpent and he allowed Sweet Pea to move out as long as it was to the Wyrm where he could keep an eye on the kid. The smell of dirty teenage boy hit Betty's nose but she pretended not to notice. Sweet Pea looked her over and she was a sight. Hair mussed and in that black lingerie? He was ready to pounce. But even though Sweet Pea may not do well in school, he was no dummy. He could see when something was up.

"What gives, Cooper?" He asked as he ran his hands over her shoulders. He got close to her ear and whispered, "something changed your mind. I'm not sorry it did... but I have to wonder what did."

Betty shook the boy off and looked him in the eyes. "I want to make a deal." He looked at her thoughtfully. "What kind of deal?" he asked.

"I want you to be my boyfriend."

He looked at her like she was insane. "Sorry, little girl. I don't 'date'. I hook up. I'm up for a little bit of that if you are interested, of course."

"Not a real boyfriend. I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend, to make Jughead jealous... so he will take me back."

"No. Definitely not. Why would I help you? What do I get out of the deal?"

Betty motioned to her self, "this," she replied.

His eyes opened wide and the side of his mouth turned up for a moment. "So... let me get this straight. You will sleep with me IF I help you make your boyfriend jealous? Girl, you are crazy," he said as he went to leave. This girl was fucking out of her mind! Betty grabbed him by the belt of his pants as he turned and stopped him. "I know you 2 dont get along. How about the opportunity to rub this in his face?" Sweet Pea thought for a moment. This was something that did appeal to him. Jones always acted like he was too good for the rest of the young serpents. How nice would it be to finally have something that Jughead didn't.

"Ok, I'm actually a bit intrigued." He sat on the bed in the corner and lounged back on the pillows. "So what are the terms of this deal. How does this work? I have to do what, hold your hand at school?"

Betty sat down next to him on the bed and looked away. This was nerve wracking as hell. He was making her so nervous! He was commanding in a way that Jughead never was and she would not want to admit it but it got her a little excited. "That's a good start I guess. I just figure that if he sees me with someone else he will know what he is missing. And want me back. And then you can go back to doing whatever."

"And how do I know you will hold up your end to this deal? Hmm? Have you even had sex before? I'm sure Jones being the puss he is, there is no way he put the moves on you."

Betty moved closer to him. She started slowly moving her face towards his and he panicked and sat up. She still got close and she said, "I may not have slept with Jughead, but I kept him happy. He was never disappointed." Sweet Pea shifted because his pants were starting to feel a little tight. She nuzzled his cheek and put her hand on his chest. "Let's just say that he has me primed and I'm ready to start my engine."

He rolled away from her and got off the bed. He leaned against the wall and stared at her. "How long will this arrangement go for? If I agree to it, of course."

She looked up at him. "Until I get him back or I give up."

"I don't know, Cooper. I don't particularly like Northsiders. This might not be worth it."

She got up and stood in front of him. She could hear the hum of the lights in the room in her ears and it vibrated in her heart. "You can tell him we had sex."

"It might be worth it, to see the look on his face."

"Maybe... it would make him jealous enough."

"What if it makes him not want you even more?"

"Its worth a shot. He's everything to me."

"Hes not worth this effort."

"He is to me. Please, Sweet Pea." She put her hand on his chest again and looked in his eyes. He could see the passion there... and something made him sigh and shake his head up and down. He breathed out a large sigh and said " ok." Betty grabbed him and hugged him right. He only let her linger a moment before pushing her off. "Just remember, I am lot doing this for you. And you can't have feelings for me. Ever. I don't do relationships, Cooper. I fuck. I dump. I move on."

"I got it," she replied earnestly. "When should I expect to pay my first installment?"

Sweet Pea looked at her and said one word before walking out the door, "tomorrow." She watched him walk out the door but he stuck his head back and asked, " you coming? I thought you needed a ride home." Betty hesitated. He looked at her sitting there in that skanky underwear and he in that moment understood. "Do you need something to wear home?" She shook her head in agreement. He slapped the doorframe rhythmically and said " I'll be right back." as he ducked out and shut the door. What the hell was he getting himself into?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jughead looked at his phone and it was blowing up. There were a ton of notifications and he just cleared them all. He sat in his room at the trailer and just stewed. He was so mad. And sad. He didn't even know what to think! He brain and his heart were totally not in agreement. His heart cried for Betty. He missed her. They should be in his bed right now having sex for the first time. She was so beautiful up there on that stage and it meant the world to him that she would want to be a part of his life forever. He knew what doing the serpent dance meant for a girl to do, that she was pledging her love and loyalty for him and to be by their side in the club. But his head was furious. A, embarrassing. B, she should not be part of his serpent life. He constantly was fighting to keep her out of it but she was always pushing her way back in. It was time they faced the facts. She was too good for gang life. It wasn't a path that he would have chosen, but this was for his father, his family. She had a life, a family, with out drugs or hiding dead bodies. Without gang violence. And if he truly loved her he had to break it off. He would not have her enter this life for him. He couldn't live with himself. His phone buzzed again. He looked at the screen and it was a text from Toni. He opened it and read it. It said she needed him to call her now but he really didn't feel up to it. He almost put the phone down, but he decided against it, sighed and dialed the phone.

"What's so important, Toni? I'm not really in the mood right now," he asked when the ringing stopped.

"Well hello to you too, Jones, " she said. "Can I ask... did something happen with Betty tonight? Like... did something bad go down between you two?"

He took a breath. Not like people wouldn't know soon enough. "We broke up. We aren't right for each other."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

Toni paused. She didn't know if she should tell him about Sweet Pea. Could it only make things worse?

"Is that it? I'm tired," Jughead asked.

"Um yeah, that's it," she lied.

"Ok, good night," he replied hanging up the phone. Even though he wondered what promoted his friend to feel the need to call him, he didn't ask. He just wanted to close his eyes and maybe sleep forever.

Toni hadn't gotten a chance to answer but she heard the click and out down the phone herself to see Sweet Lea coming out of the back and coming towards her. "Hey," he said. "Can I borrow some clothes?"

"I don't think I have anything in your size," she retorted

"They aren't for me, smart ass. They are for Betty. I don't think should leave dressed the way she came in."

Toni looked at her friend. She was so puzzled. Was he doing something nice... for a girl? For a Northside girl? For Jughead Jones's girl? I guess she wasn't Jug's anymore, she could do what she wanted. Something still didnt seem right. " I agree. But what's it to you?" She pried.

"Maybe I feel bad for her. Maybe I like her. Maybe I just want to get in her pants to piss off Jones. Are you going to give me something or not?"

"Yes, I'll get clothes for Betty. I advise keeping your hand off. Jughead is FPs kid and you dont want him after you."

"I would do nothing to break serpent law. Cross my crooked heart," he said making and x over his chest with his finger.

Toni rolled her eyes as she handed him back his beer from earlier. He put it back on the counter, "I have to take Betty home. I'll finish that later." She came out from behind the counter and gave him a look. She went to the back and pulled a spare change of clothes from her school bag. Every serpent knew you might not make it home that night, so you needed to be ready. He walked back to Sweet Pea's room and knocked on the door. She got no answer. She opened the door and there was Betty Cooper passed out in his bed. She knocked again on the door frame and the girl woke up with a start. "Hey," she said sitting up. Toni went in and shut the door. She set her clothes down on the bed and sat next to Betty.

"Betty. What are you doing here? I know that you and Jughead broke up."

A tear came from Betty's eye and she caught it to her cheek with her palm. She looked up at Toni. She grabbed her and hugged her. "Yeah. He left me."

"Betty. I'm so sorry. But why are you here? Still at the Wyrm? In Sweet's bed?"

Betty didnt know if she could tell the truth or if she had to lie. Would Toni rat her out to Jughead? She looked in Toni's eyes and saw true concern so shshe decided to trust her with her secret.

"I wanted to make a deal. To get him to be my boyfriend to make Jughead jealous."

Toni shook her head. "Betty, both of these dudes are my friends and I will tell you this is NOT a good idea. Sweet Pea hates Jughead. What if hurts you... to hurt him?"

Betty hadn't thought of that before. " I guess I have to trust he will keep his word."

"You know you are trusting a snake?"

"Yes. I do. I think he will keep his end of the bargain as long as I keep mine."

"What is your end of the bargain?" Toni questioned.

Betty looked down, " I can't tell you. And please, don't tell Jughead. I want him to think it's real so he gets jealous and wants me back." Betty stood up and turned around to start changing.

"Do you think that's really going to work on Jughead? He's not stupid."

"I tried to use common sense to get him to stay but he wouldn't listen. I tried to tell him I loved him and that he was my everything. But that didn't work either. I don't know what else to do. I'm not ready to give up on him. Not yet." She pulled the shirt down and smoothed it down. She turned around and motioned 'what do you think?' to Toni.

Toni looked her up and down and laughed and said, "I'd do you." Betty smiled and let out a small smile. "Thanks," she said and the girls got up and left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sweet Pea heard the girls before he saw them. He turned around and smiled when he saw Betty wearing Toni's clothes. This is going to be so good collecting on this deal he thought to himself. "Well there is my new old lady," he said when Betty came over to him. "Hey." she said as he put his arm around her waist. She brushed his face with her hand and timidly smiled. Toni just looked at the two in front of her and didnt know what to say. It was weird but seeing them like this they kind of looked good together. The only thing she knew though is that Jughead would definitely not think so. She thought quickly and said, "so this is like a real thing? You guys are really going to do this?"

Sweet Pea grabbed Betty's behind and said, 'what? You don't think I can get ass like this?" He noticed Betty did not squirm away.

"God you're gross," she said as she took her position back behind the bar.

Betty knew if she was going to do this, she was going to have to be tough. Dating Sweet Pea for real or fake will be very different than dating Jughead. She had to have her wits about her and be ready for anything... including apparently being groped in public. "Yes, we are going to do this."

"Its your funeral if this blows up in your faces. I wash my hands of this."

"Alright, well let's get you home, Cooper," the boy said as he got up off of the stool. He head toward the door and Betty followed. Before she took more than two steps she turned around and whispered to Toni, "please keep my secret."

Toni didn't answer with words but gave her a sympathetic look and shook her head to signal she agreed. Betty made a face that said thanks and continued to follow Sweet Pea out of the bar.

Sweet Pea was already at his bike when Betty got to him. He had his helmet in his hands and held it out to her. She took it and put it on. He got on his bike and she got right on behind him. He was a little impressed with her courage and started his motorcycle. "Hang on," he said to her. She put her arms around him and he peeled out of the parking lot leaving the Wyrm in the dust.

Once back at Betty's house, the two got off the bike. "So how are we going to do this?" Sweet Pea asked.

"Well, I guess we will see each other at school tomorrow."

"And I have to act like I'm your boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"And after school, I'm planning on collecting your first payment for your part of the deal?"

Betty swallowed hard. That was going to be the hardest part; giving away her virginity. But if it got Jughead back, she didn't care. "Yes. It's just sex."

"I can't promise I will be gentle but I do promise you will enjoy it," he said as he moved in to kiss her. Hard.

She let him put his lips on hers and she was on fire. Jughead had never kissed her like this! It was like he was trying to devour her and he parted his lips to breathe in. She opened her lips too and allowed his tongue to enter her mouth. She put her hands behind his head and settling them on neck. He out one hand behind her head and held it so she could not get away. His other hand went directly to her breast and just sat there for a moment. He wanted to see what she would do. She didn't attempt to move it but kept kissing him just as hard as he kissed her. He moved his thumb over it for a moment but then pulled away from her. "That's just a preview of what's to come."

Betty was out of breath. Unexpectedly, she had enjoyed that. She just wished it had been a passionate kiss shared with Jughead. "So tomorrow, do boyfriend things and I will let you do that again."

She turned to go up her driveway but he grabbed her arm. "I have to be totally transparent here. I've... never dated anyone. I don't really know how to do boyfriend things."

Betty studied Sweet Pea's face. Was that, fear. she saw creeping in? Was he...nervous? "Just follow my lead," she said. "I'm a really good girlfriend."

The next day at school Sweet Pea could see Betty down the hall standing at her locker. Archie and Veronica were standing there too. 'More Northsiders' he mumbled as he started down the hall. He could see Betty and the couple were having what appeared to be a serious conversation. He felt a little out of place just walking up the them in school, without a knife or a threat. When he came up next to her the other two just stopped talking. "Hey, Betty," he said somewhat nervously. He was holding a couple of textbooks low in front of him and he focused down on them. Archie gave him a dirty look but stayed silent. "Hey, you," she said softly. He let go of his books with one hand and she swooped it up in her own, interlacing their fingers. "I had a lot to fun last night." Sweet Pea swallowed a hard lump in his throat. "Uh, yeah. I had a good time too. Maybe we could go out again tonight? On another DATE?" He asked in a voice so awkward Veronica laughed at him. He wanted to snap at that prissy Northsider so badly but he knew he shouldn't blow this up before he got to see Jones's face at lunch and collect his prizes after school. Betty could tell this wasn't looking so genuine so she did the only thing she could think of, she kissed him. It was a quick familiar kiss that took him totally by surprise. "Of course," she answered.

"Good," he said dryly. He was so out of his element in this conversation, he couldn't think of how else to respond. "I mean, cool, I will see you after school."

"Maybe I can sit with you at lunch?" she asked, trying to steer the conversation in a way that sounded normal.

"Uh yeah. Come find me. You know where the Serpents sit." He started walking away. This was too Pleasantville for him.

"I do. See ya later."

When he was gone Betty shut her locker and her friend just stared at her in shock. "What?"she demanded. "I told you Jug and I broke up."

"Yeah for like 2 seconds!" Veronica said a little too loudly and some people stared at them.

"Yes. And he made it clear its over so... I moved on."

"With that violent douchebag?" Archie asked.

"So what? Jughead was violent. In a gang, remember? And he was a douchebag for dumping me. So who cares? I'm dating. I can date, right?" She looked to her friends for approval. Veronica's fierce look softened as she looked at Betty.

"Fine. Yes. You can date. Who ever you want. But tell me, why another Serpent?"

Betty looked at them both. "Please don't take this the wrong way but... you guys left me last night. I get you were arguing and stuff but... I needed someone. And as weird as this sounds, the Serpents were there for me. Sweet Pea and Toni got me through the night. So I think he deserves a chance. We aren't getting married, guys. It's just dating."

Archie drowned. He worried about his two best friends. He already lost one to a gang but now would he lose another. He had hoped that Jughead and Betty's relationship would pull him out of the club but it seemed as though that may be a lost cause. "Does Jughead have a chance of getting you back, Betty?" He asked in a concerned tone.

"Right now, yes," Betty answered truthfully. "I still love him and want him to come back to me. I'm on my last hope though." She looked down at her own books and said, "gotta get to class. See you guys later."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Betty gripped her lunch bag tightly as she walked into the lunchroom. She fully expected word of her and Sweet Pea getting back to Jughead by now and wasn't sure what she was walking into. If she was lucky he would be there to pull her to the side; he'd take her hands and tell her he loved her and he couldn't eat, couldn't sleep without having her in his life. So far though… this was not happening. She looked over to the edge of the room where she could see him and the others sitting against the wall and made her way over to them. As she got within a few feet of them, her breath hitched and it caused everyone to look up from the table. Jughead just turned away.

If he was being honest, Jughead couldn't even look at her. Not even one night broken up and she had been seen with someone else. Not just anyone, but the kid who gave him the most trouble! Sweet Pea pretty much hated him. He wondered if he was doing this just to piss him off, but even thinking about them together just made his heart ache. This was the opposite of what was supposed to happen. This wasn't her leaving him and the Serpents alone, this was her getting right back into bed with them… and he didn't like the thought. As Betty passed him to stand in front of an empty seat at their table he could only scowl.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked. When Jughead didn't answer she was somewhat disappointed. At least a "no" meant that he was mad and therefore potentially jealous. Toni nodded and Betty sat down. "I just wanted to say, Toni, that I really appreciate your help last night."

"Hey it's nothing. Serpents take care of each other and us girls have to stick together around here."

Jughead's nose flared and he let out a "harumph'. "She's not a serpent. She was not invited to join, she was not asked to dance. She performed that distasteful display of her own volition."

"No one asked you, Jughead. So butt out," Sweet Pea said sitting down in another open seat next to Betty. He put his arm around her possessively and smiled at Jughead. "She's her own woman. It seems like you have given up the right to having your opinion matter anyway." Jughead just scowled. He got up from the table, grabbed his books and went to sit by himself at another table. He pulled out one from the stack and pretended to not see anything else that happened on that side of the room.

Sweet Pea just laughed and took his arm back to start eating. "This is just too easy," he said as he took a bite of a roll. Betty looked at him but stayed silent; Toni on the other hand smacked him on the head with a rolled up magazine with a dirty look on her face. "What?!" he asked. "He's more jealous than a… well… a … I don't know an example but, I think I got my point across."

Betty sighed, "well he might be jealous… but I don't think it's working. This was my dumbest plan."

"Did you think he was going to come crawling back to you on the first day?"

"I had kind of hoped."

"You're just trying to get out of your end of the bargain."

"What is your end of the bargain?" Toni jumped in.

Betty couldn't really find the words but Sweet Pea said it all by taking a momentary break from chewing and wiggling his eyebrows up and down before going back to his lunch.

"Seriously?" Toni asked incredulously.

Betty blushed fiercely and Sweet Pea looked back at her with a shit eating grin. He winked but said nothing.

"So that's why you are playing along. And here I thought it was just so you could mess with Jughead."

"It's win, win really. I get to fuck with Jones and I get to f-"

"That's enough," Betty said covering the boys mouth with her hand. She thanked her lucky stars the hum of voices in the cafeteria kept him from being heard very far from the three of them. Sweet Pea started licking the palm of her hand and she pulled it away. She wiped his slobber on the leg of her pants

"Didn't you know what you were getting when you recruited me to be your boyfriend?"

"Yeah. I did. The one person who would drive Jughead crazy the most."

Toni roughed up Sweet Pea's hair. "He's not the only one that you drive crazy."

"Yeah, but you love me," he kidded.

"Like my annoying brother."

Betty watched this exchange and she gave a small smile. It was nice seeing the two interact like her own friends usually did. It made her feel more comfortable sitting with them. It actually almost made her feel better. More normal. For a moment, she could forget how much it hurt to know Jughead was just on the other side of the cafeteria pretending that she didn't exist.

She was lost in her own thoughts for quite a while; next thing she knew, everyone was getting up from their tables. She hadn't eaten much of her lunch but she threw what was left away in the trash can nearest to the door. Sweet Pea was there waiting for her, leaning up against the wall.

"Did you know that there are these things called "classes" here? I might try to go to one."

"You mean you want to go to American History so you can torture Jughead."

"Of course not," he said with a sarcastic tone. "I want to take advantage of all that Riverdale High has to offer. I guess I might learn something. Jones having to watch us stroll into class together is just a plus for me."

Betty rolled her eyes and walked by him through the door and he followed. He stayed in step with her. "Do you think we should hold hands?"

"It couldn't hurt," he said as he shrugged. He put out his hand and she wove her fingers in between his. His hands felt cold and rough, just as she had thought they'd be. They walked in silence for a moment but Sweet Pea was the one to break it. "This is kind of nice. I see why you people do it."

"You've never done this before?" she asked kind of shocked.

"No, why would I? Hand holding is for prissy northsiders."

"Call me a prissy northsider then. Because I am a big fan of hand holding." They both laughed and he held open the door for Betty to go inside first. Jughead was using his eyes to throw mental daggers as he saw them walking in, hand in hand and looking like they were having a grand old time. Fangs and 2 other serpents wolf whistled and laughed while Sweet Pea told them to shut it. Betty looked over at a brooding Jughead and wondered… how did this make him feel? Anything? Nothing? Maybe he could turn it off in a way she couldn't. Maybe that is how he could just make a clean break from her. She really had thought that her being with Sweet Pea would make him crazy with jealousy but really he just seemed irritated instead. She took her normal seat in the front and Sweet Pea headed for the back of the room to sleep.

About halfway through class, Jughead got up to get the bathroom pass. As he passed Betty's desk she felt something hit her foot. She looked down to see a crumpled piece of paper that must have just fallen there. 'A note!' She thought as she realized what was happening. She slowly stepped on the paper and drug it to where she could reach it. She grabbed it quickly and brought it up to the desk in her first. She quietly opened up the note and read it with hope running through her bloodstream. Short and sweet, that was the Jughead Jones way; all it said was: free period, B&G.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When Jughead came back into class he looked at her and she shook her head in acknowledgement. She now was so excited that she could burst and could hardly wait for class to be over. When the bell finally rang Betty grabbed her books and started to jet out of the room. Sweet Pea tried to go after her but she was just too fast. She could be useful in a robbery, he jokingly thought to himself. She's as slippery as, well, a snake. He watched her ponytail bob down the hall until she was swallowed by a sea of students. He leaned up against the lockers outside their class and Toni came up beside him. "No plans with Betty for free period?"

"I guess not. She bailed fast."

"How's it going being a boyfriend for the first time? I saw you hold her hand in the hallway."

"Fake boyfriend. But it's not bad. I have to admit Betty is funny. I didn't expect that. Jones is such a snooze."

"Don't go falling for her, now," Toni said as she shoved his shoulder.

"Fat chance. You know my stance on women. Use them and then lose them."

"I'm aware," she said flatly. "Can you promise me something?"

"Maybe."

"Just don't mess this up. We WANT her to get back with Jughead."

"I don't really care if she gets back with Jones. I'm in it for 2 reasons: make him pissed off and to get a little tail. That's it."

"Think about it- you know how he gets when he is emotionally unhinged. He's been way better with Betty. Like it or not FP is going to pass the mantle on to him and maybe soon. Wouldn't you rather have level headed Jughead vs crazy cant focus gets a bunch of Serpents in trouble Jughead?"

"She's causing him trouble now."

"Seriously though, do what you can to help them get back together."

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going to class. I'm holding hands. She's sold on this make him jealous angle and I'm doing my part."

"Just don't get carried away, ok?"

"Yeah, I'm cool."

Betty opened the door to the newspaper office and walked inside. Jughead was sitting on a stool by the window and was looking outside. She shut the door behind her and he turned to face her. "Hey."

She smoothed down her pants as she approached the boy. "Hey."

Jughead's whole body was quiet. His lips hardly moved but he started to talk. "Why are you doing this?"

Betty didn't know how to answer! There were so many thoughts running through her head. Tears were coming to her eyes but she kept them at bay. What use were tears last night when he stomped on her heart? "Doing what?" she replied.

"Betty, you know what."

"Well… you left me. So I guess I'm just trying to start over."

"I just don't understand you sometimes, Betty."

"Sometimes I don't understand you either, Jug. Like how could you just end what we have? Don't you love me?"

"Of course I do!" he said emphatically as he jumped off of the stool he was sitting on."That's why seeing you with Sweet Pea hurts."

"If you just apologize… maybe we can work it out," she said.

Jughead shook his head. "I… just can't. I can't be responsible if something happened to you. I can't protect you if you keep insisting in hanging out with the Serpents. You've got to break up with him and leave us alone."

Betty was livid. "You don't own me, Jughead Jones. That's not how relationships between people who love each other work. You can't tell me what to do, where to go, OR who to date. YOU left me. You broke my heart."

Jughead did not want to look her in the eyes. He himself was hurting. Of course, he wished he could take her back but she was being unreasonable. If they got back together she was not going to stay out of the Southside and Serpent life. Things were changing in Riverdale and he could not think about something happening to her. He swallowed. "Please just stop seeing him. Don't keep coming around. It's what's best for you. "

"Right now, you don't get a say. I am going on a date with him tonight and maybe tomorrow and the next day. Maybe I will go on dates with him until you give me a real reason to stop. None of this 'I'm keeping you safe crap'. Jughead, I love you and I would still take you back. But that's on you."

"I guess we are at an impasse." Jughead sat back down on the stool by the window and started staring out of it. Apparently he was done talking.

Betty let out an exasperated sigh and stormed out of the room. She slammed the door and when she turned she could see veronica coming toward her.

"Ok! What's wrong? Your face is doing that twitchy annoyed thing."

"Jughead is just being an assuming asshole. He just makes me so mad!"

"What did he say?"

"That I should break things off with Sweet Pea and stay out of the Southside."

"For once, he and I agree." Betty just gave her a dirty look. Veronica continues, "Archie and I are going to hang out at the arcade after school. Since you insist on dating that hoodlum, maybe you can come and bring him along? He can try to get on my good side."

Betty considered telling Veronica her plan and that the thing with Sweet Pea was fake. Not that she didn't trust her friend but, the more people who knew, the bigger the chance of it getting back to Jughead and this would have been for nothing. "Um, sure V. I'll let him know and we will be there."

After school, Betty headed outside to find Sweet Pea. He was standing with the other Serpents around their cars and bikes. He made a single wave to signal for her to come over there. She sidled up next to him and he put his arm around her. The conversation got quiet. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"Just some Serpent business. You don't want to worry about it."

"Got it. Northsider." The crowd around them started to disperse and Sweet Pea handed her a helmet. "So, where to?" he asked getting on.

"Well, I may have arranged a double date with us and Veronica and Archie?"

"Please tell me your joking. I have to deal with Northsiders all day and now I get to see them in my spare time too?"

Betty shrugged. "They are my best friends, it would be weird for me to not bring my boyfriend around them. We are supposed to be making this believable. Which we are, by the way." Sweet Pea motioned for her to elaborate. "I saw Jughead during free period."

"So that is where you ran off to so quickly."

"Yeah. Us being together is definitely getting under his skin. He went on and on about how we should break up and he can't protect me if I keep hanging around the Southside. But he wants me back. I can see it in his face."

"Well then I guess we need to go have a believable date with your friends. Keep making him jealous." Betty got on the bike behind him and they rode off.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N: Chapter warning for sexual themes.

Sweet Pea smacked his hand against a pinball machine and turned to Betty. "This is so lame."  
She laughed at him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for coming with me. I know this isn't your scene. "  
"Damn right. I ate a dry pretzel sitting next to ARCHIE and have been watching them make out at a table for like, an hour. Lame. I swear I can't do this anymore. These Northsiders are driving me crazy."  
"Well where would you like to go?"  
"Whyte Wyrm? Maybe we should go to a place more private. We can talk about you holding up your end of the bargain. I think I have more than held up my end today."

Betty swallowed. She knew she would have to pay the piper sometime. She could do this. It's just sex. It was all worth it if she could get Jughead to change his mind about shutting her out.

"Um, yes. Sure," she answered.

"Well let's get the hell out of here."

"Let me say goodbye to Veronica. I will meet you outside, ok?"

Betty walked over to her friends and stood there for a minute. They were so engrossed in one another they hardly looked him. Betty cleared her throat and the two jumped and then separated. Archie blushed and put his hand on the back of neck. "Hey Betty, what's up?"

"We're getting out of here. Just wanted to let you know so you didn't wonder when you decided to come up for air."

"Bye," Archie said as Betty turned around to leave.

Veronica yelled out after her, " don't do anything that I wouldn't do."

Betty kept walking and just made a high single handed wave to show Veronica she had heard her comment.

It felt so strange to Sweet Pea to have Betty riding on his bike with him. The way she had her arms around him was… well… nice. It was cold so she had her head resting on his back to brace herself from the wind. This was the first girl he had ever let ride with him; his bike to him was kind of sacred. It represented some sort of freedom. He was a ward of the state, owned by the Serpents, but riding? That was something that no one could take from him. They pulled up to the Whyte Wyrm and he pulled his bike around back. He parked and Betty got off and handed him his helmet. He also dismounted and they walked into the bar together. This time, no one in the bar stared and Betty felt like Sweet Pea had something to do with that. She followed him over to a pool table where he handed her a cue and asked, "can I get you something to drink?"

"Um, I wouldn't really know what to get. So… surprise me?"

Sweet Pea smirked and headed over to the bar. Toni had just gotten there to help so he made his way over to her.

"Starting early, I see," she said. She popped a cap off a bottle of beer and handed it to him.

"I've got Betty with me so, yeah. I didn't know where else to take her. We went out with her friends and it sucked."

"YOU went out on a double date with Veronica and Archie? I wish I could have seen that. I'd have PAID to have seen that."

"It really wasn't all that exciting. They are just as boring as Jones. Can you make her a drink? She said 'surprise her'."

"One girlie drink, coming up."

"Don't make it so frou frou I can't walk across the bar with it!"

"Do you know what, I'll bring it over there so I can say hey."

"Sounds good to me," he said as he leaned over the bar and grabbed a couple more beers for himself. He headed back over to Betty and put his extra drinks on the table. While he had been gone, Betty had racked and set up the balls on the table and was ready to play. He took a drink, put down the bottle, and then picked up another cue. He picked up a chalk and started working on the end. "Toni said she's coming over to say hi with something for you in a minute. Ready to get your ass handed to you?"

"Properly prepared. I suck at this."

Sweet Pea smiled and broke. Toni appeared with a pink drink for Betty as the balls scattered. "Stripes it is" he said as a ball flew into the side pocket.

"How's it going, Betty? You didn't kill this fool yet, so that's positive."

"Haha, yeah. He's still alive, for now," she answered as she sipped her drink. "That's pretty good!"

"Thanks. It's what I do. I'll see you guys later. It's starting to be busy in here and I can't let Hogeye see me not working."

"Bye!" she waved. Sweet Pea stepped back from the table as he had finally missed a ball. Betty took her first shot and missed terribly, not even moving the cue ball at all and hitting the table. He laughed a full laugh and she giggled in embarrassment. "Told you," she retorted.

Both teens were laughing so hard they didn't notice someone had approached the table. "What is going on over here?" Sweet Pea knew that voice anywhere. "Hey FP."

"Hey Mr. Jones."

"Betty, I'm surprised to see you around here. Again."

"Well… I'm here on a date."

FP looks at her and then Sweet Pea and then back to Betty. He wasn't 100% sure what was going on his son's life right now and he had a blank look on his face. "I don't know this story but I should probably warn you Jughead is here somewhere. If this is something you are, you know, hiding."  
"We aren't hiding anything, Mr Jones. Jughead broke things off with me. I can see whoever I want."

"Uh... ok. Carry on. I've got work for you the next couple of days Sweet Pea. Meet me after school tomorrow, ok?"

"Yes, boss," Sweet Pea answered as FP walked away. "Just like Jones to not tell his old man anything," he said shaking his head.

"I guess it kind of is," Betty replied. Sweet Pea put his arm around her in a moment of sympathy and asked, "are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I think it's your shot."

He took his arm away and half heartedly went after a ball on the table and easily sinks it. "So," he said looking at her. "Is this a bad time to talk about your end of this deal?"

Betty licked her lips and blinked. "No, its ok. You are right, you did do right by me today. Maybe you just want to go back to your room now? You can just call this game a win."

"You got it."

Sweet Pea had picked up their drinks but Betty didn't really notice. She was starting to feel kind of nervous. 'I have every right to be' she thought to herself. But a deal was a deal. It couldn't be that bad though, right? Her and Jughead had been very close to having sex a few times but he never pulled the trigger so to speak. She was ready, she just wished it was with him. As they walked down the dimly lit hallway to the dorm she looked at the boy. He could almost pass for Jughead, really, if she squinted. Maybe she could just pretend and she could enjoy it. At least a little. He opened the door to his room and held it so she could go in first.

"Oh, what a gentleman," she said.

"I try." He put down their drinks, hung up his jacket, and sat on a chair. He was dressed in a white t shirt and dark jeans that were pretty wrinkled. She could see how the thin shirt defined his muscles and it made him seem so much stronger. Tougher. He ran his left hand through his hair and looked up at her. "Well, how do you want to do this?"

"I'd say you were the expert here," she said.

The boy smirked. "Was that a compliment or an insult?"

"You decide."

"Rules?"

"None?"

Sweet Pea looked at her. She was beautiful, in an innocent way. He was not going to mind this one bit.

"Nothing is off the table?"

Betty was quiet for a moment as she thought hard. "Just don't hurt me."

He shook his head in agreement. He stood up from the chair and went over to her.

"Can I kiss you?" she asked.

"Yes."

Betty put her hands on his cheeks and kissed him lightly and then hard. He put his arms completely around her and pressed in. She pulled away and he looked startled. She took off her shirt and threw it on the chair and he followed suit. His lips were back on hers and he took off her bra. They continued to kiss and disrobe until they were both out of breath. Betty sat down on the bed and he kept going with her until he had her laid down. She could see his arousal and he wasn't shy about it. He took protection out of his side table drawer and turned off the light. The window was high in the wall but the light was still pouring in from a street light in the parking lot. Sweet Pea smoothed her hair and asked, "ready?" and she nodded. He kissed her again and trailed down her stomach and continued south. She put her hands in his hair as his tongue touched her. He could smell that she was already ready for him but why not let her enjoy it?

Betty's mind was full of so many thoughts. It was so strange for her to think about doing this with someone she wasn't in love with. She looked down at his dark hair and imagined it was Jughead going down on her instead. When she thought about it, she thought it was kind of a weird thing to do so she quit it. When he stopped and entered her she closed her eyes and decided to stop thinking and just feel. And it was amazing.

"You still good?" he asked before he really started moving.

She gave an emphatic, "yes" and brought up her legs so he sunk farther into her. That was all the confirmation he needed to start thrusting. He used one hand to prop himself up and one to touch her breast. Her muscles clenched around him and she moaned. He could feel that she was probably close so he moved his hand from her chest to between her legs. He sent her over the edge of her first orgasm and he followed soon after. He paused a moment but then pulled out and laid down on the bed next to her. He was covered in beads of sweat and his skin glistened. Betty found herself putting her hand to his face and drawing him in for another kiss which he returned fiercely. She put her arm over him and laid her head on his chest inhaling the scent of him.

Sweet Pea let out a deep sigh before he realized he was doing it. That was different than it was with all the different girls he had been with before. The way she responded to his body was on another level. Jones was an idiot, truly. This girl was special.

"Is this worth it?" she whispered to him.

"Pretending to be your boyfriend?" he responded softly "Yeah, If it's always going to be like this? Worth it."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Betty could not stay awake at school for the life of her. After she left the Whyte Wyrm the previous night she just had this odd feeling in her stomach. She got home and laid in her bed and sleep kept evading her. She stared at the ceiling and just kept thinking so many thoughts. She replayed in her head the last time she and Jughead had kissed. It almost wasn't a thought and their lips had hardly even touched. She hoped it was not the last time forever. She could almost feel his touch in the palm of her hand. She missed him. It had only been a few days but it was not easy thinking that things could be over for real. All of the time she had put into their friendship and relationship, was it for nothing? Did what they has been through mean so little to him? She believed firmly that he had loved her. She then thought about how he had said he worried about her safety and that he couldn't protect her from stuff related to the Serpents but that was not something she believed. Doesn't love mean you do anything for that person? On the other hand, she couldn't stop thinking about Sweet Pea. He was so sure in ways that Jughead never was. He was loyal to a fault. And the sex? That was also something she had not been able to forget about. Even now during 3rd period, she kept thinking about her night with him.

The bell rang and it was lunch time. Betty headed to the cafeteria. Toni stopped her on the way.

"Hey, I was hoping Id get to talk to you today."

"Me?" Betty asked. Toni motioned for her to step into the alcove in between some lockers.

"Even though I was skeptical at first, I want to help you get Jughead back. He is my friend and he is never better than when you guys are together. So count me in." Betty threw her arms around the girl and smiled.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said. "That means so much to me."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. So what are you going to do?"

"I guess I am just going to keep playing up the jealousy angle. Just yesterday I think I just made him mad."

"Maybe you need to show that you are having such a great time without him. Or that you are an amazing girlfriend?"

"Why not both?"

She had not seen either boy since the previous day and she was kind of anxious. What would it be like seeing Sweet Pea after they had slept together? Would Jughead still try to ignore her? There weren't many seat taken at the table where the Serpents usually sat but Sweet Pea was there and she went and sat down next to him. She sat her books on the table and looked over at him.

"Hey," was all he said and he went back to talking to someone that Betty didn't know. She wasn't particularly hungry so she just opened one of her books instead. She didn't want to let it bother her that he was not paying her any attention. Truly, why would he apart from their deal. Nothing had changed between them.

Jughead sat down across from her and put down a try from the lunch line. He looked at Betty but said nothing. She continued to read until Toni joined them and gave Betty a side squeeze. Betty smiled and turned her book face down so she wouldn't lose her place. Toni quickly texted Sweet Pea that there was a plan and he better play along. She heard his phone chime and saw he was pulling it out of his pocket.

Toni looked over at Jughead and said at Betty, "So hows it going with the boyfriend?" Jughead's whole head shot up in shock at the mention of the word 'boyfriend'.

"Oh, well it's great so far. I mean We've been on two dates and they've been good. I'm kind of glad I took a chance on someone else, ya know?"

Sweet Pea seemed to turn right on cue and put his arm around her. "I'm glad you did too." This made Betty giggle, mostly because she knew that this was something Sweet Pea would never really say.

Jughead slammed his hand on the table and his fork rattled. He looked up, pissed. "Are you guys really going to to do this with me sitting right here? Cut a guy some slack."

"Sorry, Jug," Betty said. "You're right. We should always consider YOUR feelings."

"Seriously? We've been broken up for 2 days! Can you have some respect?" Jughead stood up an pointed his finger in at the three of them but them back to Betty. "You do nothing I ask but can I have this one thing? A moment of peace without you and Sweet Pea being obnoxiously happy when I am absolutely miserable?!" He grabbed his book bag and took off.

"That probably could have gone better…" Toni said after he was gone.

"Yeah, I think I need a new plan," she said looking at Sweet Pea.

"What are you looking at me for? You are the one with all of the ideas."

"You're right. This was all my idea and I have made things so much worse."

Toni put her hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "You've probably got one more shot. If you think he still love you, you have to figure something out."

"Yeah let me think on it." Betty got up from the table and left the cafeteria.

Toni and Sweet Pea look at each other with knowing looks. Finally Sweet Pea groans. "Fine, I'll go, but only because shes my fake girlfriend." Sweet Pea jogged out to try and catch up with her. Once out in the hallway he looked for her amongst the other student but he didn't see her anywhere. He had to think, if Betty went to think, where would she go? Student lounge? Probably not. Library? That was a potential. Maybe the newspaper office? He decided that was the first place he would check. He walked down the hall and saw the door was closed, so he knocked before entering. When he went inside he saw Betty was curled up in an old leather armchair. He went over to her and knelt down. He put a finger her chin and lifted up her face. "Hey. Are those tears, Cooper?"

She sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve. She indeed was crying out of frustration. "I just don't know what to do." Sweet Pea turned around a chair and sat on it in font of her. "You are going to be ok." She just starts to cry harder. He discards the chair and motions for her to move over in the chair. "Swear to God, you tell no one I did this," he said as he took off his jacket and he climbed into her chair. She crawled into his lap and she cried into his shirt. He covered her with his jacket and he rubbed her back up on down with his hand. "Use that big brain of yours. You can think of something."

"I think I should just give up."

"No, Betty. Look, I don't like Jones. To be honest, I have no idea what you see in him. But we definitely need to call off this deal. It's making it worse for you."

"You would let me out of our agreement?"

"Or what if we modify the agreement? I can go along with whatever you think you need to do. And you can pay me back however you see want."

"Ok."

The door opened and Jughead was in the door way. He took one look at the two cuddled up in the chair and just yelled "Jesus!" as he stormed back out.

Betty looked mortified and just started crying again and Sweet Pea continued to try and calm her down. "Why don't you try calling Veronica? Or Toni? Have like a girl's night or something?"

"That's a good idea actually. Get my mind clear," she said as she sat up.

"Ok… I got to go. As fun as this is, it's just getting a little to emotional in here."

"Yeah, sorry. You've got stuff to do after school, right?"

"I've got a job to do for FP, yeah. It might be a couple of days. I'll try to check in and see how things are going, ok?"

"Thanks. And I won't tell everyone you are a a big marshmallow."

He gave her the finger and they got up. "Let's get to class."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Aw, Bee, I would love to have a girl's night! We've hardly talked the last few days and I have SO much to fill you in on," Veronica said as she squeezed Betty's hand.

"Perfect. I just need to get my mind off of my break up. I spent last night with my mom but it wasn't quite what I'd hoped for"

"How's it going with replacement Jughead?"

"Sweet Pea, yeah... I will tell you about it tonight, OK?"

"Of course. See you after school."

Betty and Veronica left the student lounge with free period now being over. Betty only had one last class of the day and then school would be out and maybe she would hear from Sweet Pea how he was doing. Jughead must have been out on this job too because she didn't see him in school the day before or today. Betty checked her phone and she did have a missed message; it was from Toni saying she would deal with Veronica for one night and come to her girl's night. Things seemed to somewhat be going her way for once and that made Betty smile.

The night before, Sweet Pea packed a light bag and met up with FP and some other Serpents to work two towns over. The were being contracted to move some heavy equipment for a company that liked to do things on the cheap, IE off the books so things had to be done at night. They traveled by motorcycle which left not much room. The first night was easy work for him and the guys and they moved fast. But tonight FP must have wanted to punish him for the Betty date because not only did he get stuck on look out duty, but he got stuck on look out duty with Jughead. The two were sitting together but not looking at each other. 8pm and the sun had pretty much set so the men were getting ready to start hauling. Sweet Pea pulled out his phone and decided to send a text to Betty and see how she was doing. She replied that she was OK and was following his advice and having a girls night. Toni was already there and Veronica was en route. He smirked and said "nice to see you listen to me, even if you don't listen to Jughead." She responded with a picture of herself sticking her tongue out at him and his smirk turned to a smile. Jughead looked over in the right moment to see him and scowled."Betty?" he asked.

"Not that it is any of your business, but yes. It's Betty. She's having a girl's night."

"Huh," he replied. He was quiet for a moment. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, Jones."

"Do you ever feel guilty?"

Sweet Pea look at Jughead. He was searching his face for more information as that was such a vague question.

"Do you ever feel guilty for keeping Betty tied to this life? Don't you worry about her safety?"

"Not really. If it's what she wants, it's what she wants. She should have the chance to make her own decisions."

"Here's the thing: neither of us really had a choice to say no to this. I mean, I had to do this for my now I have this family but there is baggage with it too. You, what other option did you have? I know your story, your folks died young and foster care blows. But Betty, she's pure. She already has a family. What would even interest her in being a Serpent except for me? Or I guess you."

Sweet Pea cleared his throat. "Look Jughead, I am going to level with you. Betty and I are done. Our relationship is… complicated." He paused for a moment to gauge Jughead's reaction. He was all ears. "You worry about her safety, but you don't want her to join? What's the first Serpent law?No Serpent stands alone; I think she'd be safer in and under our protection than she is as just your Northside girlfriend."

Jughead swallowed and opened his mouth to talk but closed it again. "Now I get a question," Sweet Pea said. Jughead nodded in agreement.

"If she finished pledging, on her own, do you think you would take her back? She's in, there is nothing you can do about it, does that change thing for you?"

"I don't know. You are right, we take care of our own. But on the other hand, if I really loved her, wouldn't I do anything I could to get her away from Ghoulies ? From drug jobs? From sitting in the cold all night so we can get a paycheck?"

"Fair enough. But I want to tell you, if you even have a small feeling that you want to make up with her, I would move fast. She is a very special girl and she won't stay single for long."

Veronica knocked on Betty's front door and waited to be let in. Both her and Toni were there to greet her and she came inside. "Hey, Bee," she said giving her a one armed hug. Betty returned the hug and then the girls headed into the kitchen. Betty was happy that her mom was working late at the paper because the kitchen was accidentally ripped a bag of popcorn all the way open and there were still pieces everywhere. The girls had cooked dinner and made cookies and the sink was packed with dishes. But this was going to be a good night, she felt it. She picked up the plate they used for the cookies and the bowl with her her second bag of popcorn so they could go up stairs to her room. "Ready for a night of boy free fun?" she said as she laughed and headed up. Veronica followed and Toni after. "Totally," Veronica said. Betty and Toni sat down but Veronica stepped into Betty bathroom. Toni leaned over and whispered "Do you think this is going to be awkward?'

"Aww why would it be awkward?"

"I don't really know Veronica… but I get a feeling she looks down on me."

"You're my friend too. She respects that. I promise," she said biting into a cookie.

Veronica came out the bathroom and said, "Can I just tell you how much I've missed you this week?"

Betty looked down. She knew she had been kind of MIA with her other friends while she focused on her plan to get Jughead back. " I know, this week has been crazy."

Veronica sat down next to her on the bed next to Betty. "Archie and I are having problems. Maybe I am just having problems."

"What? You guys were just all over each other."

"Betty, he dropped the "L" word. That's why we peaced out the night of FPs party. We had a big blow up over it. I mean, we are still together but, I just don't know."

"But isn't that a good thing?" Toni butted in. "I mean, I don't claim to know your life but, isn't that kind of the point of being in a relationship? To fall in love with someone?"

"I appreciate the insight but you are right, you don't really know my life."

Toni pierced her lips and pulled out her phone and start just looking at stuff on it.

Betty didn't want to start a fight so she just let this exchange go. "So what are you going to do Vee? Break up with him? Cool things off?"

"I wanted to pretend he didn't say it and let things go back to normal but he just had to talk about it. I know it's going to come up again and I'm just not ready."

"Why do boys just suck?" Betty wondered aloud.

"What do you mean? You rebounded fast. I can't say I approve of your choice but at least you aren't wallowing."

Betty looked over at Toni. She mouthed 'tell her!' and Betty took a breath.

"I've got to confess something."

"Details!?" Veronica replied.

"I'm so not over Jughead."

"That's expected, Bee."

"Well, there is more…" She went on to explain how dating Sweet Pea was a ruse to get Jughead back. Veronica was silent as Betty went on about how she tried to make him jealous and it was just making him pissed off. She let her know that she was trying to come up with a different plan but she was out of ideas.

"So let me get this straight, you were trying to manipulate Jughead to getting back with you?"

"God, Vee, you make it sound so much worse!"

Veronica turned to Toni and said, "and you were supporting this?"

Toni looked back at Veronica and stared for a second before she replied and started fiddling with the edge of her plaid shirt. "I was not on board at first. But she really loves Jughead and I think he loves her still too. I did eventually buy in."

"That was the dumbest plan I have ever heard. But I am definitely in it to help you get him back, if that's what you want."

"Thanks. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I thought it would work but I also thought you would try to talk me out of it."

"You're so right. But if you want to get him back, let's start brainstorming."

A/N:I had to break this up because it was starting to get long... Another chapter coming soon!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"So, let us start at the beginning," Toni said. "What exactly is Jughead's problem with your relationship? Maybe you can convince him that it's not important."

"I feel like I don't really know 100%. He seemed really upset about my dance at FPs party. I thought he would be happy that I was getting more involved in his new life. I wanted him to know that I'm fine with him being in the Serpents and that I support him no matter what. I wanted to be his partner in whatever he had to do, and show him that we could take care of each other."

"So it's like hes afraid you are going to get hurt if you join?"

"Wait, wait?" Veronica said. "You are actually going to join the Serpents?"

"I would if that's what it takes!" Betty said exasperatedly.

"Betty, that IS dangerous. He's right. You should stay out."

Toni stood up, "Watch what you are going to say here. I'm not above kicking your ass."

"Hey, hey. I don't mean to offend. But you can't say there is no danger in gang life."

"That's why you join a gang. Safety in numbers. We always look after one another. We are a family."

"Yeah, a family that deals drugs."

"Veronica!" Betty warned.

Toni grabbed her jacket and started leaving the room, "I'm out. Sorry, Betty. I tried to play nice. I just don't belong here."

Betty shot Veronica a dirty look and chased after her friend. "Look, she doesn't get it. Please don't leave."

"I got to go; it's late and its a long walk back to the Southside. I will see you at school tomorrow, k?"

"OK. I will see you tomorrow." She watched Toni walk down the driveway and start walking home. "Hey, wait for a minute. You can't walk by yourself. Safety in numbers right? Let me get Veronica out of here and I will go home with you."

Toni nodded and came back to the porch and sat down. She pulled out her phone again to pass the time. Betty went back inside to confront her friend.

When Betty walked back into her room she could see Veronica was on the phone. "Yeah, can you come pick me up? Thanks." She hung up the phone. "I called my car, I should probably go home too."

"Vee, something is really wrong. You are not like this. What is going on?"

"I'm sorry. I think I am just a little lost in this. I'm your best friend but you confided in Toni instead of me. You have this big plan and you pretty much lied to my face about it. I feel like you are going to join the Serpents and I am going to lose you. You are putting a guy ahead of your friends and your safety and that's scary. It's downright unhealthy."

"Wow, I didn't realize you felt this way, Ronnie. You aren't going to lose me whether I join the Serpents or not. You are my best friend and I am so, so sorry I lied to you. Please forgive me?"

"Yeah, I mean I will forgive you. But that does not change that I don't get it. I know you think you love Jughead. You guys are great when you are together, but when you are fighting, it really sucks. Neither of you are your normal selves… maybe you aren't best for each other. Please, promise me you are not going to join the Serpents just for Jug."

"Over the last little while I have seen this different side to the Serpents. They are a big family and you know stuff at home has not been great lately."

"I...just.. be careful. You are my best friend and I don't want you to make a mistake because you are thinking with your heart instead of your head."

The two girls hugged to make up. There was a horn honk outside and Veronica knew that it was the town car there to pick her up. The two girls went downstairs together. Betty locked up the house. And Veronica stopped in front of where Toni was sitting. Veronica broke down and apologized to Toni. She admitted that she was just jealous that Betty hadn't been spending time with her.

"I get it. I hate when someone steps on my turf. Truce?" Toni asked as she put out her hand. Veronica took and said, "truce." She got into the car and she waved goodbye. Betty then turned to Toni and asked if she was ready to go. Toni nodded and got up off of the porch and put her phone in her pocket.

"So if you walk me home, who is going to walk YOU home. Are you going to call your mom for a ride when we get back to my place?"

Betty had to think about that. Her mom was not a fan of her going to the Southside at all. It was probably better if she didn't get involved. "Maybe I can just stay over. I'll ride to school with you in the morning." She texted her mom that she was just going to stay at Veronica's.

"I'm sure its fine. My grandfather is super chill." So the two girls started walking. The ground was crunchy under their shoes as the fall was looking towards winter. The air was clear and Betty could smell the bouquet of trees shedding their last few leaves. It was nice to be able to be free enough to walk out under the stars like this for once, without her mom watching her every move. She was thinking about everything Veronica had said and decided to use this opportunity to really ask Toni some questions about the Serpents.

"So, can I ask a super personal question?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Why did you join the Serpents? I noticed there aren't a ton of women around… especially our age"

"To be honest, I joined because I'm a legacy, like Jughead. My mom was a Serpent. Fierce. Beautiful. She was my everything when I was younger. But she died last year. Cancer."

"I am really sorry to hear that, Toni. That must have been hard."

"Yeah it was hard, but the Serpents got me through. Everyone was there for me, including my grandfather."

"Oh, hes also a Serpent?"

"He's actually an original member. They created the club because they were outsiders. Riverdale had turned it's back on them so they did something about it. They shared resources and took care of each other when someone needed. It's quite a story, actually, you should ask him some time."

"It's nice to hear something positive about them. I feel like everything is always, 'it's dangerous and 'they're criminals.'"

"Betty, I won't lie. Not everything we do is always legit. We do what we have to to get by. Not many people will hire someone with one of these," she said pointing to her tattoo.

The two kept walking for a while just enjoying the night. It was getting dark and the streetlights were on but they were getting fewer and fewer as they got towards the Southside. Betty's wheels finally started to turn and she had an idea.

"So how do I get in? Like not just adjacent. But in the Serpents."

"Betty, why would you want to do that? Really.. I mean, is it about Jughead?"

"I'm going to be honest and say part of it is. I think if I join, on my own, he can't use it against me in our relationship. Do I expect him to think it's this big, grand gesture? No, but just like you said back at the house, maybe he can see that it isn't reason we can't be together. And there is more; when you talk about family, that is something that I feel like I need in my life right now. I've just been feeling like a stranger in my own life this year. Polly left us to have the twins. Things are just different with my mom and dad. I feel alone in my house even when they are home."

The girls were now at Toni's place and they went inside. They headed back to her room and she tuned on the light. She motioned for her to sit in a chair by her desk. She started taking a blanket out of the closet and spread it out on the floor for Betty and then tossed on of her pillows down. She then sat on her bed "If you really serious, I can help." Betty nodded so she could hear more. "If you want to join, you have to get a majority vote on your pledge. You won't get that without approval from FP. And you need a sponsor. I sponsored Jughead because FP was in jail. I don't know who else you could get but maybe I could sponsor you, too?"

"I'd be honored if you sponsored me. I know I can't for sure ask my mom. She keeps going around the house saying, 'it's only a matter of time until you put on a jacket and I will die'. So what else?"

"Well, you have to do tasks that make you learn what it means to be a Serpent. One is for loyalty: You have already done that one, the Serpent dance. One is for knowledge: You've got to learn our laws. One is for responsibility: you will get a job that you have to finish to completion. The last task is to prove you have courage. These are the attributes that we look for in a Serpent."

"I can do this."

"Yeah, you can."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

When Betty got up in the morning, the first thing she realized was she did bring a toothbrush. Then she realized she hadn't packed a bag at all so she had no clean clothes to wear. Toni was accommodating and lent her some jeans and a tight black t shirt. She grabbed a long sleeve checked shrt as well and just tied it around her waist. It wasn't her normal look but she felt comfortable. After their bus dropped them off in the center of town, Toni and Betty decided to stop at Pop's and get food to go before heading to school. Jughead had told Toni that he would be back at school today even though they were exhausted so she thought it would be a good idea to bring coffee in with them since a few guys had been up all night working. When they got to school they headed to meet them at the student lounge. Jughead didn't look too happy to see Betty there but he he didn't say anything to her besides a thanks. Sweet Pea came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder and said "Good job, Cooper. You guys were a life saver. Love this outfit by the way," as he laughed.

"You are welcome. Surprisingly I missed having you around."

"Back at you. Can I walk you to class? I have to talk to you."

"Sure," she said waving goodbye to Toni. She picked up her own cup off coffee and the two walked away together. Jughead looked their way for a moment but joined into the conversation Toni and Fangs were having.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Betty asked.

"Well while we were on the job I had a little heart to heart with your man. I think I have an idea of how you can get him back. You gotta join the Serpents, Betty. If you want him, I think it's your only shot."

"It's funny you say that. Toni and I came to the same conclusion."

"So. Are you going to do it?"

"Definitely."

"Wow, he said putting his arm around her neck, "Betty Cooper, Southside Serpent."

"Yeah. So after school I was going to go talk to FP. Will you maybe go with me? Jughead's dad has never really scared me but I'm super nervous, he could tell me no."

"Hopefully not. But yeah, I'll be there. Do you maybe want a ride to the Wyrm?"

"That would be awesome. Thanks, Sweet Pea," she said as she stopped and gave him a hug. He scooped her up in a hug and picked her up off her feet. "You're welcome." He put her down and whispered in her ear, "you can pay me back however you like." That made Betty blush. "I'll think about it," was all she could say. She walked into her class and stopped to look back but he was gone.

After the last class of the day Betty headed out to where she would meet Sweet Pea for a ride. He was already there with no Jughead in sight. Thanks goodness he wouldn't see them leaving together. Once they got to the bar they went inside to look for FP. They didn't see him around so they sat down at a table to wait. He pulled out a deck of cards to occupy his time. When he saw FP coming from the back he motioned to stood up so quickly that the chair she was sitting scraped loudly across the floor. FP noticed and spoke to her, "well, Betty. Two times in a week, you are getting to be a regular fixture around here."

"Um, well I wanted to speak to you about that. Can we talk Mr. Jones?"

"I guess I have a few minutes. You want to come back to my office?"

"Yeah, OK." When Betty got up Sweet Pea grabbed her sleeve and whispered if she wanted him to go with her. She shook her head and kept going.

Once in FPs office he said down in a chair behind his desk. The light was low like in Sweet Pea's room and it smelled of mold and beer. The desk was covered in piles of papers.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well I wanted to talk to you about what I did last weekend. Here."

"You don't have to worry about that. As a favor to you and your mother I can forget that it happened."

" I kind of want the opposite. I want to become a fully fledged member.

"Betty I don't think you know what you are saying.

"No, FP I do. I have been thinking about this, I want to be a Serpent."

He looked at her as he sat back in his chair. "Tell me why," he said with a sigh, "and I'll consider it.

"Betty took a breath. This was going to be a lot. "I know I don't have to give you a history lesson on the Serpents but someone recently gave me one. This club was founded for people who were outsiders. I feel like I don't belong in my pastel life. When I am with my friends, my family, I feel like I have this darkness in me that no one understands. I can't be who I really am. But when I am here, I feel like I can be. No one in my life ever let's me make my own decisions. This time I want to make one for myself,"

Now FP leaned forward in his chair and put his elbows on the desk and rubbed his eyes hard."You know this isn't like an after school club, right? If you are in, you are in. When we need you to work, you do the job, no question asked. We support and protect ourselves and there is real this what you really want?"

"Yes. I'm smart and capable. I think I would be an asset to the Serpents."

FP let out a sigh. "OK, we can put it to a vote."

Betty smiled."When?"

FP stood up, "How about right now?

They left the office and FP tried to round up anyone with membership that was at the Whyte Wyrm.

"Hey all- We need to have an an impromptu vote on a prospective new member, Betty Cooper. " All of the people around murmured. "As you know last week she completed one of our traditions at my Welcome Home party. She has come to me to ask if she can be a fulled pledged member. If the vote is in her favor today, she may continue with other initiation task."

"Why should we let her in?" a man from the crowd yelled.

Toni came through the crowd. "Firstly, she is a legacy. This vote should be a formality." More murmurs. Sweet Pea came and stood next to Toni. "Second she has already started pledging and has a sponsor."

"Betty, who is your sponsor?"

"Toni Topaz."

"I'm afraid that isn't going to work," an angry Jughead butted in, one who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "She is my sponsor and I'm still in my probation period. She can't sponsor two people at once. It's in the bylaws.

Betty looked at her friend in panic.

"Will someone else step forward to be Betty's sponsor so we can get on with the vote?"

People looked around in the crowd but no one stepped forward. As Betty thought she was going to give up a hand went in the air. "I'll do it." When Betty saw who it was she smiled. Sweet Pea. He went over to Betty and FP. "You really owe me now, Cooper," he whispered.

"OK, please raise you hand if you are in favor of Betty Cooper being a Southside Serpent." Toni and Sweet Pea raised their hands first and a couple others did as well. Not majority. FP sighed. He did not want to hurt his son like this, but he was not going to be another person in Betty's life taking away her choice to make a decision. He rose his own hand the rest of the room, save one, went up. "The vote has passed. Thank you all."

Toni hugged Betty and she herself beamed from ear to ear. For the first time, in a long time, things felt right. She looked over at Jughead to see how he was taking the news. He was storming over to her. "Why did you do this. And why are you two helping her?"

"It's what I want, Jug. Just like where this is where you belong, it is where I belong."

"No! You belong on the Northside, with your mom and Veronica and Archie. "

"Why? Why can't you accept I belong here?"

"I just don't want you to be. I don't like to think of you this way."

"I'm sorry, this is just how it is. I'm getting in."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jughead gave her a disappointed look and walked away. This was the second time that she had broken his heart within a week. How could she do this to him. The Serpents was his only escape from thinking about their break up and now she was always going to be there. This was the one thing she never wanted for her; life in a gang. 'Do I try to keep her out, or do I get her in?' he asks himself. One thing was for certain, he had to make sure she was not doing this just for him. He loved her too much to have her make that kind of sacrifice. He was never a big drinker but he felt like he could drink tonight. He could see his dad over with a bunch of guys pouring shots. He went over to the bar and asked, "Is one of those for me?" FP handed him a glass and clapped him on the back.

"We should celebrate, I think," Toni said heading behind the bar. She grabbed a couple bottles of champagne and 3 glasses and motioned for them to follow. She headed towards the back entrance and they went out behind the place. There were some wooden benches out the and what Betty thought looked like it was a fire pit. She was right because Sweet Pea got to work making a fire. The sat down and poured themselves drinks. Two other younger members of the Serpents peeked around back to see if they could join. Sweet Pea looked at Betty and she said, "of course; the more the merrier." Someone brought a radio to play some music which Betty welcomed. Once word spread that there was a party going on outside, the yard was packed with people. A few people came over to Betty to tell her congrats and good luck and that was something she really appreciated. She was getting free shots left and right and by 11 o'clock she was hammered. Sweet Pea could tell she wasn't doing so great and told Toni she should take her inside before she threw up in front of everyone. Toni picked Betty up and started trying to get her inside when something catches her eye. Jughead, sitting by himself in bush also looking worse for wear. She called to Sweet Pea and he made his way over. She points over to him and Sweet Pea looks pissed.

"You are asking me to put him to bed, aren't you?"

"Please, Sweet Pea? I've got to take care of this one."

"Who do people think I am lately, some sort of nice guy?" he joked as he picked up Jughead the same way. He was pretty sure it was safe to take Jughead to FPs office to sleep this off. Both of them headed in with their charges. There was snickering as Jughead came through; some of the old timers were not his biggest fan and it amused them to see him not be as much of a 'professional' as his father. FP was actually in the office when Sweet Pea got there. "I have a special delivery for you," he said as put him in the open chair.

"Thanks, Sweet Pea, I guess I can take it from here." He turned to leave. "Hey, can I say one thing?" he asked.

"Whatever you want boss."

"Thanks for stepping up for Betty. I don't understand why she wants to be with us but she does. It was bad enough that I voted for her join, I could never have sponsored her. I hate to hurt my son."

"It's cool, FP. Maybe they can both stop hurting soon."

Meanwhile, Toni was sitting outside of a bathroom stall while Betty was puking her guts out. She heard of flush. "I bet this is the last time you are going to be pounding back tequila."

"God, I have to go home like this. I haven't been there since yesterday morning. My mom will freak if I don't come home again."

"There is no way you are going home like this. You can come stay with me again. I'll figure something out with your mom. Maybe FP can call her?"

'Oh yeah, that will go really well."

"It's better to tell the truth than to be caught in lie." Betty shrugged at that and decided to try and call her mom but she couldn't even focus on her phone. Toni took it out of her hand and dialed it herself. He held the phone up to Betty so she could talk. Her mom didn't pick up so she was able just to leave a voicemail.

"Toni I don't think I can even make it to your place, I'm so dizzy. I don't think I'm really that buzzed but my stomach is so sick."

"Maybe we can find someone to stay with here. I'll see if maybe there is a room that's empty."

"Thanks, girl. I'll uh, stay here."

A few moments later and there was a knock on the door. She could hear Sweet Pea calling her name outside. She told him that he could come in. He came in and sat down next to hear near the sink.

"You feel any better?"

"Yeah. Just my stomach is doing this upside down thing and I'm kind of dizzy, maybe from the upside down thing."

"I'm impressed with how much you put away. Those boys were trying to get your liquored up."

"Liquored up for what?"

He looked in her eyes. Was she really so naive? "If you haven't noticed, there aren't that many females running around here. Most of the girls who hang around this bar are all used up, if you know what I mean."

"So I guess I can have my pick if Jughead won't take me back."

"Yeah, I guess so," he said scratching his head.

"Sweet Pea?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you take me back to your room? I just want to lay down."

"Sure," he said, helping he to her feet. "Just as long as you don't throw up."

"I think I'm fine."

Toni came back and saw them coming out of the bathroom. She was holding a couple bottles of water and some Aspirin. "So bad news, no open rooms."

"It's OK. I'm just going to take her back to mine."

Toni gave Betty a look. "Are you OK with that?" she asked.

"Yes. I am sober enough to consent to go to his room. Maybe I will make him sleep in that ugly chair."

"Hey, don't talk like that about my chair. You will hurt it's feelings.

"At least one of you has feelings,"Betty joked.

"Ouch, that hurts," he replied putting his hand over his heart.

Toni squinted as she scrutinized what was going on between them. "Well if you are fine with it, then I guess I am OK with it too. Just you might need to roll up in some plastic wrap before you get in his sheets."

"Is it gang up on Sweet Pea night or what?"

"Sorry," Betty said as she touched his cheek. He stared at her for a second but then snapped out of it. "Let's go," she said and they started walking over to his door.

Sweet Pea laid her down on the bed. "Do I really have to sleep in the chair?"

"No. Actually I was thinking about settling up a debt."

"Now?" he asked confused.

"Yes, now," she said as she took off her shirt and threw it at him.

His eyes grew wide when he realized what was happening. "You're sure? I told you, the old deal is off."

"Yes. I'm sure," she said taking off her bra and also throwing it at him.

Immediately he was one top of her and kissing her passionately. He took off his own shirt in between kisses. He slid off her jeans and her underwear in one pull. The sight of her was magnificent. She undid his belt buckle and worked at his jeans. "How does your stomach feel?" he asked before he continued. "Actually better," She answered as she pulled him out of his boxers. He was already excited when she took him inside her mouth but the feeling of her lips around him like that just made him hard as a rock. He gasped each time she sucked back down on him. His hands were in her hair guiding her head back and forth and she was making moaning sounds as if she was enjoying it just as much as he was. It was soon too much for him and he laid off making her move and even told her to stop, but she wasn't listening and he came in her mouth. She swallowed it as it was gushing into her and slowed to a halt when she felt he was finished.

"That was good, right?" she asked getting under his covers.

"Of course it was good. So good we didn't even get to the main attraction," he said joining her and turning out the light. "Are you sure I didn't take advantage of you because you were drunk? I may not be a romantic but I did promise that I wouldn't hurt you."

"I wanted it, I assure you. Not only do you deserve it for volunteering to be my sponsor, I have been kind of thinking about it since the night we slept together."

"So is this something you want to keep happening? Unless you get back with Jones, I mean."

"Yeah, it is."

He leaned over and kissed her forehead before she rolled over. She laid behind her and put his arms around her. He closed his eyes to give in to sleep and to block out the thought about this beautiful girl in his bed.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Of course, Betty had to pay for her crimes of leaving a dirty kitchen and not coming home until Saturday morning; she was grounded for the rest of the weekend. She spent most of Saturday doing chores to make it up to her mom. She also texted Veronica to fill her in on all that happened, she had the right to know she had decided to join the Serpents. But this also left her with a dilemma. How was she going to bring it up to her mom?

Sunday morning Betty was awoken bright and early by her mother screaming at her. She wasn't going to have to worry about telling her mom after all.

"Mom what is wrong?!"

"Betty, why did I just get an anonymous call on the Register tip line that you are joining the Southside Serpents? Is is true?"

"Mom, please just listen."

"Oh God, it's really happening. Betty , I forbid you. Do you hear me? Forbid you!"

Betty pulled the covers over her head and Alice laid down and held her daughter and cried.

"Mom!" she exclaimed pulling the covers back down. "You have to understand."

"I understand, Elizabeth. I was young once and the Serpent life looked attractive to me too. But it isn't. I got out of the Southside to give a better life to you and your sister. I won't have you throwing away all of my hard work like Polly."

"Mom. It's what I want. Joining the Serpents does not mean I am turning my back on you. I'm not moving out. This changes nothing."

"Honey, that's what you think now. But wait until you get called up for your first job. It could be patrol but it could also be dealing. I swear to God I am going to kill FP for allowing this. He of all people should respect my wishes."

Betty got up out of bed and stood over her Alice. "Mom, you can accept this now or later; it's up to you. In a few months, I will be 18 and you won't be able to stop me. I stand with the Serpents." Alice got up herself and stormed out of the room, "I am going to give FP a piece of my mind!"

Betty got up and started getting ready for the day. Betty took a long shower and washed her hair. She blew it dry and went to start her makeup when when she got a text from a number she didn't recognize. It read, 'call me- FP' so she got dressed and returned his call.

"Hello?" she said when he picked up the line. She had never spoke to Jughead's dad on the phone before and wondered if she would know his voice.

"I just wanted to let you know I just talked to your mom. She is pissed and I am sorry I had to do that to you. But you passed your next text. The courage to stand up to the most savage person I know."

"My mom?"

"I have have rival gang members who don't scare me as much as an angry Alice Cooper. She can slice you open with her tongue. But not only did you stand your ground, you proved your loyalty to us. Congratulations. I will be in contact soon about your next task. This one you will know about ahead of time."

"OK, well, thanks Mr. Jones."

"FP, please. Serpents are family."

"OK, thanks FP."

"Oh, and Betty?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"I did it for your own good. She needed to know," he said and the line went dead.

Being back at school was different for some reason on Monday. She felt like everyone was looking at her differently. Maybe it was because she didn't have her hair in a pony tail? Walking to her locker to get her books she was intercepted by Veronica and Archie. "You are really joining the Southside Serpents?" Archie asked in a worrying voice.

"I know what you are thinking, Archie, but I know what I am doing."

"I just worry about you. You and Jughead both."

"Thanks for your concern. But it's fine, really."

Veronica cut in, "We still love and support you Bee. Let us know if you need anything ok?"

"Of course. I will maybe see you guys in free period. Library?"

"Sure," Veronica said giving her a hug and the two walking off.

When it got to lunch time she got that weird feeling again, like she was being watched? She saw Jughead was sitting with Archie and Veronica for once so she headed over to the Serpent's table as to avoid his wrath. Toni waved as she came to sat down and she felt at home among them. The other younger Serpents had started including her in their conversations and had stopped being hush hush over club business. Things were progressing well. Fangs asked how she was doing with her initiation tasks. She replied that she had passed another one and pretty much only had the laws and the responsibility test left. "I can always give you some private tutoring in the laws, if you want," he said to her.

"Buzz off,"Toni cut in. "She doesn't need to spend an afternoon with you flirting with her.

"Ha ha, you caught me," he said. "I can't help it, Betty. You have to know you are kind of a babe."

Betty blushed. "Well thanks. I appreciate the compliment but I don't think I'm ready to be on the market just yet."

"I get it. You and Jughead just broke up. But if you need a distraction-" he was cut off by a notebook to the back of the head, this time, from Sweet Pea who was just arriving. "Sorry!" he said putting his hand in the air.

"Hey, Cooper. Congrats on task number two. You are halfway done. Do you want to go over the laws and stuff in free period?"

"Aww I made plans for free period. Rain check until tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure," he said mildly disappointed.

After her history class, Betty bolted towards the library. She knew that Archie and Veronica were going to be waiting there for her. For the first time since they had broken up, Betty was actively avoiding Jughead. She wasn't positive he would try to stop her from pledging but she had a feeling. Whether she did it for him or for herself, she should get to make her own choice. Just as she is walking by, she feels a hand tug her into the Blue and Gold office. She turned and of course, Jughead was standing there.

"Uh, hey Jug. What's up?"

"Can I be transparent?" Betty nodded. "I missed you, He said talking a step closer."

'What is he doing?' She thought

"I'm sick of being mad at you." He took another step.

'Wait- is he?'

"I want you back in my life."

'He wants me back!'

He put out his hand and put it on her shoulder, _"_ We have to figure out how we can stay friends."

"Friends? You brought me in here to say we need to be FRIENDS?" Betty shook her head and stepped back away from him. She could feel her cheeks running hot and the tears coming to her eyes.

"Yeah, Betty. You are everywhere. I can't get away from you! In class, with my friends, at the Whyte Wyrm; you are there and I have been trying to ignore you but I can't. I still have these crazy feelings for you but it's not right for us to be together."

She looked at him with tears falling, "How can you say it's not right for us to be together if you love me?"

"I just can't be with you and be a Serpent. I have more to worry about and it's not safe for you."

"What are you going to do when I'm in too, Jug? Keep pushing me away?"

"Maybe, Betty, maybe! What do I do when I am the leader, when my dad really does retire? I am scared to have you attached to me. What if someone does something to you, to get to me?"

Betty tried to swallow but she couldn't because of the lump in her throat. "So this is really it? There is no hope for us?"

"I'm sorry, Betty. I just can't... At least right now."

"And how long am I supposed to wait for you?"

"Don't. Just don't," he said turning away from her. "I just want us to be friends again. So that when I see you I can stop getting this feeling in my stomach like I a being stabbed with a knife. I can let this wound heal and things can be normal for us again."

"Jughead, things will never be normal for us. Give me some time, but maybe we can be friends. I have to admit, I have been hanging on to the notion that I could win you back. Now I see... I can't."

"I know you have. I could see it every time you looked at me. It's how I wanted to look at you, trust me. But it's best if we just get over it and move on. I have reconciled. I hope you can too. I, um... gotta go." He stepped out of the room. She got out her phone to text Veronica to say she wasn't going to make it because she just had a fight with Jughead. She sent back a sad face and said she understood.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Having this knowledge made her world feel topsy-turvy. She had been so focused on getting Jughead back, she did not put a lot of thought into what would happen if they didn't reconcile. Now some things would not change. She was still going to go forward with her initiation into the Serpents. She still had her friends. She could handle being single, right?

After school, Betty tried to catch Sweet Pea before he left, so she could talk about what happened with Jughead. When she got outside she saw that his bike was already gone. She figured he must have had something to do. She looked for Toni among the few Serpents who was still hanging around but didn't see her either. She shot them both a text and hoped one of them would respond. She walked herself home. No one was home when she got there so she went up to her room. She took out some home work but she couldn't concentrate. She got out her phone and still no answer from them. She sent a text to Veronica too to see of she was free; she responded that she was working some stuff out with Archie. Betty put down her phone and looked around the room. She tapped her fingers on her desk and then got up and laid in bed. She held her pillow and tried to fall asleep.

On the other side of town, Jughead was having a meltdown in his dad's office.

"Kid, you have to get your shit together."

"Look, I did what you said. I made sure Betty understood we are not getting back together."

"I know, and you did the right thing, for both of you. But you have to get this emotional landslide thing under control."

Jughead wiped his face with his sleeve and tried to breathe in deep.

"You want me to be able to retire? You want to lead the Serpents? You have to have to get your emotions in check. When you are making decisions that affect the well being of everyone here, you need to have a level head. You have to be able to think of someone other than yourself."

"I know. I want to be the guy everyone can trust. I know she makes me vulnerable. But I have to ask you, what kind of decision is it to let her join? Do you want her that close to me all of the time; where I have to keep seeing her and missing her?"

"Look, Jughead. Most relationships can not stand the pressures of this club, especially for the leader. Look at me. I lost someone special to this life."

"Yeah, you and mom split up."

"Uh yeah... right. But look, Betty is great to have in your corner, sure. You just can't lead her on to think happily ever after is probable. If you don't break up now, it's probably going to happen later and one or both of you will get even more crushed."

"You don't think I'll be able to handle it?" he asked him. He sighed a big sigh and covered his face with his hand.

"Look at yourself right now."

Toni and Sweet Pea were sitting in the bar trying to study for a test. Toni looks over at him and asks, "So what do you think they are talking about in there?"

"I don't really care," Sweet Pea said.

"You should care. Anything that happens in FPs office usually affects the rest of us."

"He is probably just chewing Jughead out for being such a puss."

"Really? Can we talk about why you don't like him?"

He looked at his friend and said, "I don't think he has this club's best interest at heart. He thinks he does. I get it, he has had good intentions but if we follow his plans I think we will be broke and we will all be homeless."

"I don't know, I respect his idealism. If we can go more legit, why not? Wouldn't you rather have a real job instead of doing all of the shit work?"

"It's not that the idea doesn't appeal to me, because it does. I am not confident that Jones is the one that can get us there and he might just fuck us up in the process."

Jughead left the office and and headed out into the bar. Toni saw him and called out to him.

"Jones, wait," she said getting up from the bench. He turned and she motioned to him and he came over to sit with them. "Are you ok?"

"Maybe soon, but not right now. I got kind of a reality check from my dad because I am not where I have to be if I am going to lead the Serpents. And then earlier I put an epilogue on the final chapter of my relationship with Betty. It's over for real; no matter how much I love her, I can't be with her."

Toni and Sweet Pea looked at each other. "You're sure?" Toni asked.

"I didn't realize that the two are kind of related. I thought Betty was good for me, and if I wasn't here and my dad wasn't my dad, maybe things could have been different. But I have to focus on the Serpents, not drama with my girlfriend."

"Don't things change if she joins? She can be the queen to your king."

"My dad thinks it's not a good idea, he thinks it's better if we just stay friends."

Sweet Pea squinted at him. "As someone who doesn't let girls tie him down, I get it. But actually think it's kind of bullshit."

"What do you know, Sweet Pea? You've never loved a girl in your life."

"You're right. But if Betty wanted to be my girl, I'd never let her go. She's not like most of the girls around here. She's as strong as she is beautiful and as kind as she is smart. And she is devoted to YOU. And to the Serpents. If you don't want that, you are dumber than I had ever thought."

"I'm trying to save us from a future of heartache and you think I'm being dumb. You don't know the pressure that I have on me. To spare her from that, I'd do anything, including pushing her away."

"I still think you are dumb."

O

Betty couldn't sleep no matter how hard she tried. She got up out of bed and put on fresh clothes. She touched up her make up and brushed her hair; she then grabbed her bag and headed down stairs. It was so weird that neither of her friends had answered her texts so she decided to walk to see if maybe Toni was working.

O

"You think I'm dumb? You know who's dumb? You! God you act like you are the only righteous Serpent. You don't know anything!" Jughead said standing up to leave.

"I am sick of you and your sorry shit, Jones," Sweet Pea said standing up as well.

"I should just kick your ass so you know your place around here."

"Kick my ass? That's hilarious. There is no way you can beat me in a fight."

"Let's then!"

"Boys!" Toni said trying to calm them down. Anyone within earshot moved closer and were keyed in to what was about to happen.

Jughead flew across the table at Sweet Pea and got him in the face. Sweet Pea flipped the table out of the way and tackled Jughead. The two teens were wrestling on the floor for a good minute before Sweet Pea got a hand free and he popped Jughead in the mouth. Jughead stopped and put his hand to his lip that was gushing blood. Sweet Pea put his foot on Jughead's chest and held him down. "Don't do this, man. You don't want to go down this road with me."

Jughead paused but then he grabbed Sweet Pea's leg and yanked him to the ground. He was on him again and was trying to choke him out. Sweet Pea got his knife out of his pocket and rolled over. He was on top of Jughead and had him pinned under with one arm and opened his knife. He put it up to Jughead's throat and whispered in his ear, "this is your last warning before I hurt you. You don't want everyone to see that, do you?" Jughead closed his eyes and softly said no. Sweet Pea got off of him.

FP took this opportunity to leave his office. It was eerily quiet so looked around. And then he saw his son on the ground with a fat lip and Sweet Pea putting his switch blade back in his jeans. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Nothing, Boss," Sweet Pea said. "Just your average pissing contest." He held out his hand to help Jughead up and Jughead looked at him apprehensively. Sweet Pea nodded at him and he took his hand. FP searched Jughead's face to make sure that was all that it was and didn't see any reason to be alarmed so he went over to the bar to get a drink. Toni came over with a wet napkin for Jughead's blood lip.

Sweet Pea looked at Jughead and said, "Can I talk to you outside?"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Jughead nodded and the two headed towards the back exit. Toni took a step to follow and Sweet Pea shook his head. "Privately if that's OK. Toni looked at Jughead and he said, "Yeah. That's OK." Toni put up her hand and walked over to gather her book bag and papers off of the floor. When the boys exited, Betty entered the Whyte Wyrm. She went over to her friend. "What happened here?"

"Sweet Pea and Jughead got into it; it was just a small fist fight."

"Are they OK?"she asked putting her hand to her mouth.

"Yeah, they are fine. Jughead just has a bloody lip and a bruised ego. How are you doing. Jughead told me you guys talked."

"Can we maybe go somewhere and talk? I just need to decompress."

"Sure. Maybe my place?"

"That sounds great."

"Cool, let me just let me tell Sweet Pea I'm leaving and we can go," she said pulling her phone out of her bag. "Oh, you texted me a couple of times. I'm sorry! I never even heard it."

"That's kind of how I ended up here; no one was home at my house and no one was picking up their phones. I figured I'd see someone if I just showed up."

"That's what Serpents do. We take care of each other." She put her phone back her in her pocket and said, "OK, let's go."

Outside the two boys sat on opposite benches facing each other. Jughead was pressing on and then checking the status of his lip. "So what did you want to say?"

Sweet Pea shifted uncomfortably before he started to speak. He knew things had to start going differently. He was sick of constantly warring with Jughead. If he felt like he was ready to step up, he was ready to see it. "Look, Jones. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? Punching me in the mouth? It's my fault, I started it."

"No, for what you are going through with Betty."

"Oh, um, thanks."

"You are right. I don't know the pressure of being FPs kid and everyone watching my every move."

Jughead just kind of stared blankly. This was not really a situation that he had expected. Ever since he had started coming around the Serpents, Sweet Pea had always given him a hard time. He was slow to accept him when he pledged and did not like to take orders from him. To be honest, he thought that they would always be at odd but here was potentially burying the hatchet.

Sweet Pea continued, "I've never really liked you; I'm sure you know that. I'm a proud guy, I don't do shit like this often but I want you to know I don't want to fight with you. I want to be able to trust you to do what's right for this club- but I haven't seen anything worth respecting yet. You keep always making these emotional mistakes, man. If you think ending things with Betty is the right move for you, to keep you from doing this," he said painting between the two of them, "then OK. The rest of us will take care of her but you have to get yourself together. If you make yourself into a real leader, then everyone, including me will follow you."

"I wish I could be confident like you. It's like you just don't give a shit about what anybody says."

"It's because I don't."

"I wish I could just get out of my head."

"I hope you can, Jones. I hope you can," Sweet Pea said getting up.

He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket and headed back inside. He felt his phone was vibrating and checked to see if it was because he had messages. He realized he hadn't been able to feel it through the layers of his shirt and jacket and he had been getting texts since after school. Most recently Toni had texted him that she and Betty were going to be at her place. But a series of messages before were Betty looking for him. He figured he should head over to Toni's, see if she needed anything. The walk gave him time to think. When he thought about it, he knew he wasn't going there out of some sense of Serpent duty or some deal. He worried about her and that was a new feeling for him. He didn't let people in easily. Good people in his life were usually taken from him. That's why he joined the Serpents. It was crazy to consider but in a few short weeks, Betty went from a stranger in a bar parking lot to becoming his friend.

o

As soon as the girls got into Toni's room, Betty just started bawling. Toni looked at her with wide eyes and had to think fast. She got her spare blanket and wrapped her up in it. Betty grabbed the end and hugged it in her arms and then buried her face. Toni sat next to her on the bed and put her arm around her. She gave her a side squeeze and put her head on her shoulder. "God, I hate being like this," Betty said in between sobs. "Why do I let him make me feel this way?"

"You can try to chose not to," Toni said in compassionate tone. "I know its hard but, maybe it's time to let Jughead go?"

"I know you are right, I just can't. I love him so much this just kills me."

"I know honey, I know. How can I make it better?"

"I don't think you can... but thank you for listening. You really are becoming one of my best friends."

Toni brushed a couple of loose strands of hair behind her ear. "That means a lot. Thanks."

"I mean it; I'd think my friends would be here right now but Veronica is so wrapped up in Archie and their stuff she acts all cordial and caring but she just doesn't get it. And I know she is secretly judging me for pledging the Serpents. Archie too. He and Jughead haven't been the same since he joined either. I wish they could see the Serpents aren't bad people. I belong here and if they really cared about me they would actually support me, not just say it." Betty wiped her eyes as she had started to calm down.

"You've got a lot going on in your head, don't you?"

"Yeah, I can't stop."

"I guess that's something you had in common with Jughead."

"Sometimes I think it's the only thing. Both two dreamers with our head not in reality. I was crazy to think I could fix things with him."

"You aren't crazy. It's hard to let go of something you have worked hard for. But you have other things to look forward to. Serpent initiation. Your first tattoo," she said jokingly. Betty cracked a smile and let out a small laugh. "Oh man is my mom going to be excited about that one."

"Do you think she will be more mad about that than joining?"

"Maybe. A jacket you can take off but a tattoo is forever."

"That's why you get a tattoo. Not many Snakes get out, but I guess your mom did."

"Yeah and she's miserable. She's this on the inside and so fake on the outside. She traded who she is for security and a Buick."

The girls turned their heads because there was a rap on the window. Toni pulled back the curtain and Sweet Pea was standing there. She opened the window and he asked, "looking for more company?" Betty shook her head yes and got up to let him.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

When Betty opened up the door she pulled Sweet Pea in for a big hug. He put both his arms around her and rested his head on top of hers. "You doing OK, Cooper?"

"Could be better. Did you just come here to check on me?"

"Yeah well... Serpent law and all, couldn't leave you in distress."

"Serpent law, huh?" she asked breaking their embrace. "Admit it, you're a softie."

"Never," he said stepping inside.

Toni came out of the bedroom and sat on the couch. "Do you want to order a pizza? Watch a movie?"

"Yes and yes," Betty said as sat down next to Toni.

Sweet Pea threw himself down in the end seat of couch next to Betty, kicked off his shoes and put his arm up on the top of the couch. "I guess I can hang out with you girls for the evening. Just no chick flicks." He took a flask out of his pocket, took a sip and passed it to Toni.

"You break my heart," Toni said as she got out her phone to place an order.

o

"Psst," Betty said nudging Sweet Pea. She pointed over at Toni who was dozing on her other side. He just smiled and kind of laughed. "Lightweight."

"What did you have in that flask? She whispered.

"It's a secret but it has guaranteed results."

"Obviously."

"Why? Did you want some?"

"No, I'm good. I just wondered how long she's going to be out."

"Probably a while."

Betty leaned back on to the couch and and put her head dangerously close to his shoulder. In a moment's weakness she let it fall. She knew her friends were trying to make her feel better but her mind still wandered to Jughead. She was still sad. She thought to herself, maybe she needed a better distraction.

"What are you doing?" He said

"Just trying to take my mind off things, if you will let me."

"Are you sure that it's wise?"

"Are you telling me no?"

He looked at her intently. Was it right to take advantage of her emotional situation and give into his own wants, even if she was suggesting it? "Never," he finally answered. She got up off of the couch quietly and grabbed his hand tugging him up. She kissed him lightly and he followed. As they kissed he steered her back towards the hallway. He moved for Toni's room but Betty stopped him. She used her head to indicate the bathroom instead. His eyebrows lifted in question. "It has a lock," she purred and he hurried her inside.

Later, Toni woke up on the couch alone in the living room. She saw Sweet Pea coming out of the bathroom and she sat up.

"How long was I out?"

"Maybe an hour?"

"Where's Betty? Did she go home?"

"No, she's uh..." he said trailing off but looking at the bathroom door.

"Weren't you just...? Oh my GOD! Please tell me you are kidding!" she said covering he face.

He shook his head. "I am the man that no woman can resist," he joked.

"So ... even though you called off the deal you are still sleeping together?"

He shrugged. "Who am I to deny her?"

"You are such a pig," Toni said punching him in the arm.

"Hey, it was her idea," he said defending himself.

"It was. Seriously?"

"Yeah, I swear I am innocent."

"You are definitely not innocent. So..." she ventured "what do you think is going on between you two?"

"I have no idea."

"You haven't talked about it?"

"I don't think there was much room for talking."

Toni just shook her head. They could hear the toilet flush in the bathroom and Betty came out. She looked a little flushed but didn't comment. "Oh hey Toni, you're up."

"Yeah, sorry I dozed off."

"Oh it's fine."

"Well," started Sweet Pea, "I hate to just leave but I've got a quick think to do for FP tonight... so can I catch you guys at school tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah,' Betty said "I will see you at school."

"Bye, " he said ducking out.

As soon as the door was closed, Toni turned and looked at Betty. "OK, spill!"

"What?" Betty questioned.

"You are still having sex with Sweet Pea...What is that about?"

Betty blushed and choked. "Did he tell you that?"

"Well I kind of guessed when he came out of the bathroom that you were still in."

"Caught, I guess. Are you mad?"

"Not mad... just confused. And a little grossed out that you did it in my bathroom."

Betty looked down; she felt really guilty. "I just needed a distraction from thinking about Jughead."

"Did it work?"

"Kind of."

"There is something about this whole arrangement that I never got. If you really loved Jughead, how could you have sex with someone else?"

Betty had to think about it for a minute before she said anything. How could she put how she felt into something that would make sense to her friend? "Here's the thing, it made me feel... wanted. While Jughead was rejecting me, someone was accepting me. I felt better about myself. I know that sounds crazy but it's working for me."

"Betty just promise me one thing. Be careful. He may be one of my best friends but he is a heart breaker."

"I'm fine, Toni. I promise."

"No listen," she said touching Betty's arm. "You were hurt by Jughead? At least you have some good times to look back on. Falling for Sweet Pea? I've seen girls crushed because he can't trust a girl enough to stay with her. Please, do not fall in love with him."

It was starting to get dark, so Betty had to head home or she would be walking in the Southside alone at night and even with a Serpent jacket it would not be the best idea. She walked fast and she made it past the train tracks near Pop's before the streetlights came on. As she was passing through the parking lot she recognized Sweet Pea's bike along with FPs. She peeked in the window and she saw them inside sitting at a booth with Jughead and another Serpent. She wondered what they were meeting about but she kept walking. When she got home her mother was there and Alice did not greet her daughter. 'Obviously still pissed' Betty thought to herself and she headed up to bed.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The rest of the week came and went. It was finally Friday and Betty felt like she could breathe. FP had called her the night she saw him through the window at Pop's and told her that her final task was coming on the weekend and to be ready after school. She was instructed to pack light but would need to plan out be out all night. Jughead was waiting outside her last class of the day with an envelope from his dad.

"Hey," he said not even being able to look in her eyes. "These are instructions from my dad. I'm supposed to get you to the Whyte Wyrm but after that this task is up to you." He looked up to at her, almost pleadingly. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah, Jughead, I do."

"Ok, he said closing his eyes and sighing, "then let's go."

As they walked outside she opened the letter and read it quickly. It was pretty straight forward, outlining what her task was going to look like. Now that the mystery was gone she was beginning to get nervous. She wondered if Jughead knew what was in the letter but she assumed not or the envelope would not have been sealed. They got outside and headed over to where he had parked his bike. He took a plain brown box out of his book bag and handed it to Betty.

"So this is for you... A bunch of us put money together to get you something you needed... as a good luck gift." Betty looked at his quizzically but then opened the box. Inside, was shiny black helmet.

"This is for me? That's so sweet of you guys!"

"Thank us by coming back in one piece, OK?"

"Deal." The two of them got on his bike and headed out.

Once at the Whyte Wyrm she was greeted by a large group of people. FP stepped out of the crowd while Betty was getting off of Jughead's bike.

"You ready, kid?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm ready."

"Did you get your directions?" Jughead gave a single nod to indicate they had been delivered while joining the rest of the crowd. In Fp's hand was a padded envelope that looked like it had a brick of cash or maybe even a brick of something else. "Here is your package. It is your job to get this to the other side of Eversgreen Forest in the next two days. If it is delivered on time, your task is complete. If not, you fail and your pledge is over. You get to choose one person to travel with you, so choose wisely."

Betty stepped forward and took the package. Maybe it was almost better if she didn't know what was inside; She had no idea if this was a real drop f some kind or just for her task. She looked into the crowd. There weren't many people that she really trusted so her list of options was short for a traveling companion. Would she take Toni, her female confidante? Jughead, someone she could hardly stand to be around but trusted with her life? Sweet Pea came forward, almost like he expected her to ask him. He kept walking over to her and when he stood next to her, he whispered in her ear, "I volunteer as tribute." That made Betty laugh and she nodded. "I choose my sponsor," she said to FP.

FP blinked a couple of times; apparently this was unexpected. "OK, good luck. We hope to see you back in time for your initiation on Sunday evening."

"Thanks," she said picking up her back pack. Sweet Pea took a pack from FP and shook his hand. "Let's get going."

The two of them got on his bike to get to the forest entrance. Betty put on her new helmet and hung on tight. It took about 10 minutes to get to the right part of town and Sweet Pea parked his bike in a parking lot near to where they would go in. They walked down a small pebbled path until they were in the brush.

They kept walking silently for a while. Betty could hear a small critter climbing into a tree. The sun was coming in the trees making beautiful patterns on the ground. She pulled her hoodie tighter around her as a chilly wind ripped through. Finally Betty broke the silence. "I feel like I am getting off easy."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Walk like 30 miles in 2 days and camp out under the stars? How hard is that?"

"I mean, most people have to talk care of a dog for a week. Not the hardest task."

"Then why did I have to do this?"

"Honestly? Because not everyone trusts you not to run out on the Serpents at the first sign of trouble."

"Because of my mom?

"Yeah, because of your mom. They want to see that you will do the work, even if it's uncertain."

A few more steps where the only sound were their feet crunching gravel.

"Do you know what is in this package?"

"I don't. And I wouldn't open it. I doubt the person who is receiving it would like it unsealed."

"You are probably right."

After a few more steps Betty address the elephant in the forest, "Why did you volunteer?"

"Who else better to take care of you than someone you know? And I'm handy for protection."

"Not that you wanted to hang out with me for 2 days?" she said jokingly.

"That too. I'm hoping for a repeat of the other night at Toni's," he said wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

"Play your cards right and you might get your wish."

They were coming up on Sweet Water River and they could hear the rushing water.

"Perfect," he said looking at their map. "We can follow the river down for a while so we don't get lost."

After about an hour Betty's stomach rumbled loudly. Sweet Pea laughed as it slightly echoed in the empty woods. "I guess it is time to at least stop for a snack."

"Yes, please," Betty said put down her back pack. "Maybe we can just rest for a while?"

"We've hardly made a dent in our trip," he laughed. "Let's eat and try to make it at least another half hour."

"OK. I want to set up a camp by the time it is dark."

"Scared of the dark, are we?"

"I wouldn't say scared exactly," she said taking out an apple and some cracker she had packed. "More like... apprehensive"

"Maybe you didn't get off as easy as you thought.

"I just... well... there is kind of a story about when I was a kid. I got stuck in a dark closet at the Register for a whole afternoon. My mom had music on really loud so she didn't hear me crying. After that, I pretty much have had an aversion to the dark."

"How old were you?"

"Maybe 5? I just felt like I had been abandoned and she would never come to get me. Now I know that is silly, but I was so little and my imagination was so big."

"Would you say that was one of your scariest moments?"

"Absolutely."

Sweet Pea looked over at her and smiled a small smile. "What?" she asked him.

"I don't know. I like getting to know you, Cooper. More than I ever expected."

"You thought I was going to be a goody two-shoes."

"Yeah, I did."

"And look at us now. Friends."

Sweet Pea looked at her again and foreign thoughts washed over him. This girl really was something else; he knew she has no hidden agenda with him. When she laughed, it was real. It wasn't for manipulation or for status. When she smiled it made him feel something that didn't make sense to him. It was unfamiliar and it was all consuming. In that moment, he felt like he had to kiss her. He took his hand and turned her head towards him and leaned in.

It caught her off guard, when she felt his lips on hers. It was nice; like lots of kisses they had shared before in many ways but this time something was different. She pulled away and looked at him. That look on his face; it was totally something new and it kind of freaked her out because she didn't understand. Toni's words echoes in her head, 'he's a heart breaker.'

"I thought you wanted to keep going?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said shaking himself out of a haze. "Yeah. We need to walk farther before we get too caught up in... things. Have you eaten enough?"

"Yes. I think we can keep moving."

They packed up and they were off again.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It was starting to get dark and they decided to stop for the night. In Sweet Pea's pack there was a pop up tent that they got together easily. They looked to see what other supplies were in the bag that FP had packed for them. There were matches, a flash light, a light blanket, and a few odds and ends. Not exactly staying at the Five Seasons but it would do. 'We just have to figure out the blanket situation' Betty thought to herself.

Sweet Pea asked if she thought it would be good to start a campfire and she decided not, she was just exhausted and wanted to try and sleep.

"So, how is this going to work?" she asked Sweet Pea as she got into their tent.

"It depends what you want to happen in this tent," he smirked.

"Honestly, sleep."

He looked at her with a disappointment but didn't speak it. "You can take the blanket and I can just sleep under my jacket, its pretty warm."

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah, don't worry about me, Cooper." He grabbed a t-shirt out of his smaller bag that he himself had packed and balled it up to use as a pillow. He laid down on the right side of the tent so he was not even touching the blanket. She thought that that was a great idea and did the same to give herself a pillow as well. She laid down on the left side of the tent and and tried to fall asleep. After an hour or so of not being able to sleep, she rolled over to face Sweet Pea. He was just staring at the roof of the tent. He heard her shift so he looked over at her to see if she was awake. Even with his eyes adjusting to the dark, he could hardly make out that her eyelashes were not touching.

"Can't sleep?"

"No, not really."

"Me neither. What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing... And everything."

"Want to share?"

Betty rolled over onto her back and looked up. It was terribly dark, even when she opened her eyes it was like they were still closed.

"Do you think you could maybe find that flashlight?"

"Why, you scared Cooper?" He reached over grasping his hands until he felt her. She shrieked when he touched her breast and he laughed.

"I could kill you," she said half mad and half jokingly.

He was able to find the flashlight in his FP's bag and turned it on facing away from them. "Better?"

"Much." She shivered a little.

"If you are cold... you can come here and I will warm you up."

"Was that a come on? Or real?" she asked.

"Either way, come over here," he said moving his arm so she could get next to him. "I will play nice, Serpent's honor."

Betty just looked at him and a million thoughts ran through her head. What was this? Being helpful? Trying to get in her pants? She don't even know anymore. But she _was_ cold. She rolled over and put her head on his chest and he leaned back with his arms above his head. Since she was freezing, his body felt blazing hot against her cheek and she pulled the blanket over him too so that she could get more heat.

"So, what were you thinking about?" He probed again.

"Initiation. My mom. Jughead... every relationship I have is so complicated right now."

Betty didn't really want to say what she had been thinking but she knew the truth was going to come out. This relationship was the most complicated and she couldn't figure it out. Maybe things between them were getting weird because they had been fooling around or some residual effects for their fake dating but she had to get her head on straight. She couldn't clearly define what was transpiring and it added another layer of drama to her life. She had just closed the door to Jughead but was this more than convenience? Even with all the unknowns, she did know one thing: She wasn't even ready to go there.

"Can we talk about this thing that is going on between us?"

"Um, sure. What about it?

"I don't know how else to put a label on this."

"Does it need one?"

"Maybe? Sometimes I just don't know where things are going."

"Where do you think they are going?"

"I don't know. I just ended things with Jughead but you are being so sweet and-"

"Ok, I get it. This is different for me too."

"It is? I thought this was kind of you thing? No attachments. Casual sex."

"You're not wrong. But I don't usually get this close to someone I'm sleeping with either."

"You think we are close?"

Sweet Pea shook his head and took one arm from under his head. He smoothed her hair with his hand and she snuggled into him. "At least for me, more than normal."

Betty's head was spinning from the way this conversation was going. She thought about them spending time together over the last few weeks; it was crazy how she did feel close to him. But what was that even worth when she wasn't sure if they couldn't ever be anything more? Her heart still broke when she thought about Jughead.

"God, Betty. I don't know what to tell you." He started again. "It's actually pretty complicated for me."

"Same."

"So what do you want to do, Betty Cooper. Analyze every little thing until it drives you crazy?"

"That's what I do. I think and I worry about the unknown."

"Look, I am being super vulnerable here," he said as he rubbed her arm up and down. "How this happened is a one of a kind situation really. How many people have fake relationships but end up being friends?"

"Probably not many. But when you say friends... it's more, isn't it? There is an attraction, at least a physical one."

"That is true. That's what makes things complicated. But if I am being honest, I don't want to lose that part of this."

"And I am grateful," she said putting her hand on his cheek and kissed him. He returned it in kind and he dropped the flashlight to the side of him. He pulled her closer by wrapping his arms around her. He tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth and let out a low groan. She opened her mouth to his and her tongue licked quickly inside. They continued like this for a time before Betty broke their lip lock. She let out a deep sigh and went back to laying her head on his chest. "Not to compare... but kissing you is different than Jughead. You make me feel... so powerful. And sexy."

"Its because you are," he said kissing the top of her head. "You have been so focused on Jughead's train wreck I think you have been denying part of yourself."

"What do you mean?'

"Jughead doesn't consider other people, ever. How could you figure yourself out when everything is about him?"

"I don't know if that's quite fair."

"Not fair to you. He doesn't seem concerned about your feelings, just what he's got going on. If that wasn't true, you would still be together. He woudn't have let you go because he can't handle the Serpents." Betty didn't like what she was hearing but she continued to listen. "That whole, I'm worried about her safety thing is bull. You have all of us now. If you were my girl, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. He's just a wuss. And an idiot to give you up."

Betty didn't have an answer for what he was saying. Maybe it was true but it really didn't matter anymore. Things with Jughead were over and she had to get on with her life. She leaned and kissed him again. She laid her back down on his chest and sighed. "I guess I am OK with complicated."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Early the next morning Betty woke up freezing; not just because it was a frosty Autumn morning, she realized, but she was alone in the tent. She took down her pony tail, ran her fingers through her hair and then put it back up. She rifled through her bag and found a warmer shirt to put over her tee. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and put on her boots before going outside. When she looked out into the early morning mist, she could see Sweet Pea sitting propped up against a tree. As she ventured closer, she could see that he was furiously scribbling in a notepad. He had heard her getting up so he tried to stash it in his pocket before she could see but he was caught. She went and sat down next to him.

"What are you writing?" she asked.

He looked at her embarrassed. "Nothing really. Sometimes it helps me think, ya know, to write my thoughts out."

"I get that! I'm a writer, you know, the school paper and stuff."

"Yeah. I know. I guess that's why I didn't want you to see; I'm not really a writer but I do it from time to time when I have stuff on my mind."

"Hey, no judgement," she said as she pushed him playfully. "So," she began, "is all of this stuff that's on your mind related to what we talked about last night?"

"What goes in the notebook, stays in the notebook," he said, shaking his head and patting his inner jacket pocket.

"OK, as to not revisit the awkwardness of last night maybe we should get out of here? We probably have a lot of walking left to do for today, huh?"

"I'd say so. You can grab a granola bar out of that bag if you are hungry."

"What I'd actually kill for is a cup of coffee," she said getting up.

"Toughen up, Cooper. Have some water."

Betty opened up the bag and fished out a granola bar and a bottle of water. Sweet Pea got up and packed up their belongings and the tent so they could continue on their journey. Betty grudgingly folded up the blanket to pack away and they were ready to go. The two got walking and it was a mostly silent walk. Betty could see their breaths on the cold morning air. She admired the scenery; This was such a beautiful hike. Betty commented on how she couldn't believe she had never been out there before like this. She had lived in Riverdale her whole life but it seemed to her in this moment that never viewing this before was almost a tragedy. It felt like hours to her when the path finally veered away from Sweet Water River. Sweet Pea looked at the map to make sure they were going the right way and he pointed to a dirt trail in between. "It looks like we should go this way."

"Are you sure? It doesn't really look like anyone has been down there in a while."

"I'm sure. These paths are old but they are still good. They were raked out by some of the original Serpents, to be used if necessary."

"Lead on then," she said indicating forward with her hand.

"So, have you thought about what you are going to do after initiation?" he asked looking back at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, everybody has a place in the Serpents; like how Toni works for Hog Eye. Or I do stuff for FP. It's just how it works. Everyone uses what they are good at for the benefit of the Serpents, just like how we took care of each other in the old days."

"I guess I haven't really thought about that. So what are you 'good at'?"

"Mostly manual labor, to be fair. Or jobs with tough customers. No one really scares me. I do the work and get a cut of whatever money we make. It's how I pay for my room and everything I need. It's not a lot of money, but I can take care of myself."

"Besides writing, I am not really sure what else I'm good at. Cheer leading? Not very marketable skills in a gang."

"True. Can you cook? Maybe Hog Eye would hire you."

"A little?" she said without confidence.

"I dunno. You think on it. I mean, you can always fall back on doing courier work for FP. It pays good but you never know what kind of person is on the receiving end of a package."

"Kind of like what we are doing now?"

"Yeah, except you go alone."

"So what does Jughead do?"

"Whines, mostly," he said as he smirked and Betty gave him a dirty look. "But his job is to pretty do much whatever his dad tells him to. FP does want to retire for real but he isn't confident that his kid is going to be able to lead us. He has already made a ton of rookie mistakes. FP's trying to teach him but, he just came in so naive. You know up until this year he wouldn't even talk to his dad? He thought we were scum, just like the rest of this town. But now he thinks he can just swoop in with his Northside ideals and change us; he believes what he is trying to achieve is for the good of the club but really it's just for himself. He pledged this gang and now he wants us to go legit so he can sleep at night."

"Do you really think that's how it is?"

"Yeah, I think that is really how it is."

Betty pursed her lips together before she spoke again. "I think you are just being stubborn."

"Me being stubborn?"

"Yes, you just don't want to like him. Jughead lives to be a Serpent. His _dad_ told him to quit when he got out of jail but he wouldn't. He would do _anything_ for their future. He broke up with me, didn't he? Because he thought he wasn't as focused on Serpents as he should be."

"Yeah and now you are joining."

"Yeah."

"Do you think that is is going to change things?"

"I don't really care anymore. I am doing this for me now."

Sweet Pea put her arm around her as squeezed her as they walked next to each other. "You know, that makes me super proud of you."

"Why's that?"

"Because you are finally thinking for yourself. Just like you wanted."

It was well past noon and both of them were getting hungry. They stopped to take a break near a cluster of rocks and have a snack. The sun had come out and was starting to warm them up through the trees. Betty maneuvered her head so she could feel it's rays on her face. Sweet Pea looked at her and she, herself, looked radiant. The more time they spent together, the more he was finding her beautiful. If he thought on it, he knew it was really more than just how she looked, even though how she looked didn't hurt. He was learning that she was a passionate and fiercely loyal girl. She made him laugh. She was smart but a little reckless. No one was perfect but she was starting to seem close. When she said things were complicated, she wasn't kidding. She was seeping into his life in a way that he wasn't used to and it made him nervous. But on the other hand, he was actually kind of happy.

"Can I tell you something?" Sweet Pea asked.

Betty nodded while she took a sip of water.

"You look really pretty like this."

Not that she didn't take pride in her appearance but it was nice to hear; but also uncomfortable at the same time. She definitely wasn't dressed her best today, she had on no makeup, and her hair was unwashed so it seemed like this was a real compliment... and something so genuine made her feel a certain way tat she didn't know how to process and she blushed.

She put her hand on the back of her neck and said embarrassingly, "um, thanks."

"You just seem so...free. And happy. For the first time since I've really known you."

She thought about it; was she happy? She still missed Jughead but maybe he was right, she wasn't so sad anymore. She was getting close to finishing this task and that in itself felt like freedom. "I am finally taking my life and doing what I want. No more of my mom trying to make me into a freaky Stepford daughter or Jughead trying to hold me at arms length. I wanted to join the Serpents, I am doing it. I wanted-" Sweet Pea cut her off by taking her hand in his; she went silent at the contact. He looked away for a moment like it made him feel uncomfortable. He then faced her and searched her eyes to see if she was OK. She mostly looked confused so he dropped her hand.

"Sorry, yeah that was kind of crossing the line."

"I just don't know what we are doing," she whispered while looking away.

"I don't either," he responded and put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He felt the package that they were supposed to deliver and it grounded him to why they were there in the first place. This wasn't a camping trip with friends or some sort of lover's vacation. He just needed to get the job done and then maybe give himself some space from her; to give himself some time to get his head straight. "You done?" he asked with a half-attitude, like a mom taking away a plate from a misbehaving kid.

"Yeah, I'm good," she said, surprised at the change in his tone.

"Good," he said grabbing his bags. He kind of started walking before she got herself together. She hastily grabbed her bag and ran to catch up with him.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The last hour of them walking had been totally silent; both of them ignoring the hum inside of them that they were feeling. Sweet Pea picked up his map and looked to see how far they had left before they would finally be on the other side of the forest. He was relieved that there wasn't much farther to go. He cleared his throat so that he could ask her a question.

"So in your directions from FP, did he tell you how this was going to go down once we got there? Like do you have an address or something?"

"It just said 'Merrick'?" Do you know...Is that a street in Pinedale?"

"Merrick? It's not a street. It's a person. I have heard some of the old guys talk about him but I have never met him. FP usually makes deliveries to him himself. He is supposed to be a very private person."

"I wonder what we are taking to him?"

"I dunno but it's probably valuable. He funds lots of Serpent projects."

"Huh. I wonder how we will find him."

"I'm sure we will find a way. Look here on the map. If we follow this little path here it will spit us out near the middle of town."

"OK," she agreed, "let do it."

As they turned to head down the path, Betty's phone rang. It read: unknown name, unknown number. She showed him the screen and he motioned for her to answer it.

"Hello?" she answered questioningly.

"Merrick here. You have a package for me?"

"Uh, yeah. Yes. Where can I meet you?"

"The fountain at the center of town. I will be the one wearing a suit."

The phone call ended with a click and Betty put her phone down and into her pocket. She looked at her friend. This was so real now. The man on the other end of the phone did not sound the most friendly. Thank god she had Sweet Pea to go with her; he made her feel safer.

"Center of town, he said. Isn't that weird? Meet up with us out in the open?"

"Yeah it's kind of strange."

The two of them were now at the forest's edge so they navigated their way to the fountain to meet the man called Merrick. As they got nearer, Betty picked him out right away, he was the only man around in business attire. He was tall, thin, and much younger than Betty was expecting.

Merrick must have recognized Sweet Pea's jacket, or known who he was looking for because he started coming towards them. He pointed to a building to the left of the fountain and went inside. When the pair got close, Betty could see there was sign above the door that read Dr. Walter Merrick, DDS. Sweet Pea opened the door and held it for Betty to go inside.

It looked just like any small town dentist's office inside, Betty thought to herself. They noticed the door next to the left was open and when they peered inside the man was sitting there at his desk. They set down their bags as he motioned for them to come inside and they entered.

"Close the door, please," he said as Betty came in. She looked at Sweet Pea and he nodded while putting his hand on his switch knife in his pocket. Merrick noticed and said, "you don't have to be on guard. You're safe here."

Sweet Pea slowly took his hand from his pants and put his hand in his pocket in his jacket to grab the envelope instead. He took out the package and put it on the desk. Merrick reached forward and took it up.

"Thank you for bringing this to me."

"Um, you're welcome," Betty answered.

"I'm not surprised he sent you for this. This is kind of a sore spot for FP," he said starting to rip open the envelope. Inside was a rectangle cardboard box with a piece of paper attached. He opened the paper, which looked to them to be a letter, and closed it after a moment. "Do you want to see what is inside?"

Betty and Sweet Pea just looked at each other. She had no clue what to expect and he was kind of leery of anyone he didn't know. Sweet Pea had seen many drops go south without a moment's notice but he deferred to Betty.

"I do, I want to know"

"FP said you were the curious type, but I am glad you resisted the temptation to open this box before you got here."

"I took this job very seriously, sir," she answered him as he slipped open the box. Inside was an old tarnished looking locket.

"This," he said taking the item out and holding it between his fingers, "is the last of my mother's possessions that exists. I agonizingly gave it your boss as payment a long time ago for a debt when I had nothing else. I have now paid off my debt, plus some, and now, something this precious is now back with me."

"Can I ask what kind of debt?"

Merrick respected her boldness and rewarded her with an answer. "15 or so years ago I, too, lived in Riverdale. I grew up with a single mom who struggled to pay the rent. I was just 18 and there was a a fire in our house on the Southside and we were both inside. FP and some other Serpents saw the flames and tried to help us. FP carried out my mother while someone else helped me after. My mother had already passed away, the coroner said it was the smoke inhalation, but he brought out her body anyway. I didn't even know a place to live but he convinced Hog Eye to take me in and found the money for my mother's funeral. I got a scholarship to go to college and I got out of Riverdale but I never forgot the man who risked his life for my mother and I. He has been coming out here to collect from me for years, on my insistence. I felt as though I still owed him. The last time I saw him, he said he was made aware that I had overpaid and would be getting a refund. I never expected to see this locket again, I was sure he had forgotten it."

"That's the kind of person FP is," Sweet Pea chimed in. "He is tough as hell but he knows what's right."

Merrick nodded. "I've seen both sides of what you guys do. FP I will always respect. There is a duality in everyone, I've learned. A light and a darkness. We have to embrace both or we go crazy."

Betty's ears perked up and she thought about what he had said. Everyone has both a light and a dark? If she was honest with herself, she had been struggling for a while with a feeling; one that she had a darkness that made her different. Something that she couldn't identify but made her feel trapped and confused inside herself. She had been raised with the idea that perception was all that mattered. Her parents had made what looked the perfect life, from the outside. That is why they tried to hide her sister when she got pregnant. She always had to look prefect, dress, talk perfect. But Merrick was right; it was driving her crazy. To hear someone say that is was right to embrace all the parts of herself.? That was a life changer. She couldn't really speak as her mind was flooded with so may thoughts and feelings in her heart.

"Thanks for seeing this through," Merrick continued. "If you excuse me, now, I do have a phone call to make. Thanks again."

Betty put out her hand and he shook it. Sweet Pea, also shook his hand and then opened the office door and held it open so that Betty could leave ahead of him. He nodded to Merrick as he followed her out the door. They left the office after grabbing their bags.

"Do you want to maybe get some real food before we head back?" Sweet Pea asked once they were outside.

"Yes, please," she said.

"There is a diner not too far away, I think. We have come to Pinedale for a couple of jobs before."

They headed down the street and indeed, there was a restaurant coming up on their left. They headed inside and sat down at the counter. Both of them asked for a cup of coffee and looked at the menu. Betty decided on getting a burger, she felt like she was just craving something warm when her coffee was poured. Two older teens walked behind them and took a second to stare at Sweet Pea's Serpent jacket before leaving the diner.

"Does that ever get easier?" Betty asked him and he shrugged.

"I don't really care anymore. They can judge all they want but I am proud of this jacket. This is my family crest and I don't care who sees it."

"You know, that is something I really admire about you. I'm such a stress ball all of the time."

"I think you are doing better. Look at you! You're a Serpent now, Betty. You did it. You had dissenters but you did it anyway. You grew some balls."

Betty laughed. "I guess you are kind of right. I need to just take this courage and harness it. I mean, I stood up to my mom. I passed this test."

"Thank you," she said putting her hand on his arm. "I couldn't have done this without you. This confidence? I think maybe it was contagious."

"You're welcome, I guess."

The waitress brought their food out and set it in front of them. Betty smelled her food and popped a french fry in her mouth. After just eating snacks, this was a heavenly meal.

They finished their meal and Sweet Pea paid the bill. Betty had tried to argue, to pay her half, but he insisted. Betty excused herself to use the restroom before they left. While she was washing her hands she looked at herself in the mirror. She tucked some stray hairs behind her ears and scrunched up pony tail. Her natural waves were starting to come through and she helped them try to look on purpose instead of a mess. She tilted her head from side to side, considering herself and Sweet Pea's earlier comments. Did she look different? She sure felt different. Something about the way Sweet Pea had told she was pretty affected her, in a good way. She remembered the last time someone had told her she looked great, which was the night of FPs party when Jughead had told her she looked good. That seemed like a lifetime away even though it was only a few weeks. And this was different. She was so driven for validation from Jughead it was like her whole self esteem hinged on his compliment. But hearing Sweet Pea say it was less like validation and more like affirmation. She looked at herself in the mirror and she felt like she recognized the person standing there for the first time in her life. She was high school student and Serpent; daughter and rebel. She could be anything or everything. She didn't have to be scared anymore, of any part of herself. She was OK.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Betty walked out of the bathroom with a new sense of self confidence. Sweet Pea was waiting for her, leaning against the wall. He heard the restroom door and looked up to see her. She came out and he saw her hair wild. She walked by with out a word and he followed.

"What was that exit?" he asked once they were outside.

"I don't know, I just had a feeling come over me."

"It's sexy, you know."

"I hope so. I feel it."

They slung their bags on their backs and headed back to the forest.

Earlier that day, Alice Cooper slammed her way into the Whyte Wyrm. FP was standing near the bar talking to a few friends but he heard and felt her presence immediately. He turned to her as she yelled his name.

"FP, I swear to God, you are a dead man!" she screamed in hysteria. He went to her and ushered her into his office. He sat her down on the chair across from his desk as she cried into her hands. "I told you I would kill you if Betty ever put on a Serpent jacket. And you let her pledge behind my back?"

"Look, Alice, the kids are going to do what they want. Don't you remember how we were when we were that age?"

"Yes, I do! That is why I can't believe you are doing this."

"Do you think I like the idea of Betty being here? No. I told Jughead to break it off with her but she wanted this anyway. Maybe it is better to let them do what they want and supervise?"

"Like I trust you to 'supervise'," she said jumping out of the chair.

FP got in close to her and put his hand on her face. "What has saying no to your kid for her whole life done? Drove her right back to where you started, Alice. Damn it, you can't blame me for this."

She looked at him and tried to compose herself. "Please promise me one thing," she responded softly.

"Anything."

She stepped back and straightened her clothing and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "I know she has to work. But please, no guns, no drugs. Ever."

"Do you think I give jobs like that to women, Alice? What kind of man do you think I am?"

"I know exactly what kind of man you are. A snake."

"I have always stood by my principles, unlike someone else in this room."

"Really, FP? You want to do this right now?"

"No, not really, Alice. But, if you are so worried about her, maybe you should come around more? Keep your own eyes on her."

"What, should I just put my old jacket right back on? Sell my house and buy the trailer next door to yours? Leave my job at The Register- and Hal- to come do errands for you? You. Are. Insane!" She said hitting his chest with each pause.

FP grabbed her arms and steadied her and looked in her eyes. "Do what you need to do to not lose your daughter. As someone whose kid wouldn't even give him the time of day for years, don't waste a minute."

Alice stared back into his eyes and then nodded. He let go of her wrists and she backed out of the room.

Betty was now sitting on a fell tree and rubbing her right foot. She had taken off her boot and her sock to try ad work out a kink she had gotten from all the walking.

"Want some help?" Sweet Pea chided her.

"I'm OK thanks," she responded as he walked over and sat next to her. "Do you think we could camp here though? My feet hurt so badly."

Sweet Pea looked up into the sky and checked the map. "I think we should go just a little bit farther. We can camp right by the river, maybe?"

"Okay," she said putting her sock back on. She put on her boot and laced it up. Sweet Pea put out his hand and helped her up. She went to grab her bag and he swooped it up.

"I got this the rest of the way."

"How chivalrous," she joked as they began to walk more.

"Just hoping you will consider repaying me later," he retorted as he winked back at her.

"Like, how?" she said playing along.

"You decide."

"OK, just nothing in my butt," she said jogging ahead of him. He shook his head and laughed out loud.

"You are a dirty girl, Betty Cooper."

"You love it," she shouted back.

It was the kind of thing that you say all of the time, wasn't it? But for some reason, it shook him to hear that word come from Betty's lips. Love was elusive to him and was not something attributed to him very often, if at all. His friends would probably think he was kidding if he told them he had feelings for anyone. As he followed her he thought about her and what he really felt about this friendship. He had a lot to consider. This Betty, the confident and happy go lucky girl she was being right now was a far cry different than the fiery girl he saw the night she did her Serpent dance; but both were making his heart and head kind of hurt. This had to be what feelings for another person were like. He just wanted to keep being around her. He wanted to be able to touch her and smell her hair; he wanted to hear her scream his name in the dark of the night. The problem, he realized, was that now he knew he wanted to be her boyfriend but he just didn't know what to do about it. He picked up his pace and caught up with her. Up ahead he could see the edge of Sweet Water River and he surveyed the ground to look for a good place for a tent. He selected and said, "hey, let's camp here."

"Oh, thank God!" Betty exclaimed. Sweet Pea put down their packs and went over to him to help set up the tent. 'I'm getting really good at this' she thought to herself as she expertly threaded the poles through the nylon sleeves. She popped the pole into the corner as Sweet Pea popped it in the other side. They high fived and laughed. "Campfire time?" Betty asked.

"Sounds like a plan," he said. He looked around for some dry branches and brought what he could find over near to their tent. Betty had outlined a patch of dirt in some stones she found on the bank of the river and he put the branches inside. He took some fire starter out of FPs bag as well as some matches and got the fire going. It was starting to get dark so it was just in time. Betty pulled the blanket out of the bag and spread it out on the ground. She sat down on it and she motioned for Sweet Pea to come sit next to her. He grabbed a bag of snack chips from his bag and some drinks and then joined her.

They just sat and looked at the fire for a while, sometimes grabbing a handful of chips. Sweet Pea's flask emerged from his jacket and he offered her a sip. She waved her hand and he brought it back to his own lips, put on the cap and he just held it in his hand. She brought up her knees and hugged them as she allowed her mind to wander. Here was another night that she would spend with Sweet Pea in a tent. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and she thought how attractive she really did find him. She felt her body kind of get warm at thought about him kissing her again. She leaned into him just so they could be touching. He seemed unfazed and just kept staring ahead as he played with the clip to his flask. He looked very deep in thought and she wanted to know if he was thinking about her. This chemistry between them was undeniable for sure, but what was it really? Friendship and attraction? Lust? Love? She let out a small laugh. Love? That was preposterous. But she was free to do what she wanted; Jughead had made it clear that they were over so why not explore another option? She'd have to see.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: I am trying to stay a few chapters ahead as I know I have to go to a work conference next week and I still want to keep updating. Thanks for the reviews I have gotten as well. I'm using the opportunity of being ahead in chapters to give myself more time to edit out errors. I started with just re-reading before posting but I noticed that I was still missing things. Hopefully the last couple and from here on out have less!

Chapter 22

Sweet Pea was just off in his own world when he felt her bump him as she rubbed her hands over her goose bump covered arms. "Are you cold?" he asked.

She nodded and he took off his jack and put it around her shoulders. "I wonder where I can get one of these?" she joked.

"We will just call this one a loaner until you get one of your own."

"It's crazy, isn't it?"

"Yeah, kind of. This is not how I expected anything with you to go."

"So tell me the truth; when you saw me that first night, what were you thinking?"

"That you were absolutely out of your mind. But I'd banged lots of crazy."

"So you weren't grossed out by me? I felt like everyone was praying I would just go away."

"I, in fact, was not grossed out by you... I was disgusted," he joked.

"Thanks for the confidence booster," she said as she ruffled his hair with her hand. Their laughing slowed into an awkward quiet and Betty slid her hand to his cheek and pulled him in for a kiss. Her lips felt numb as one kiss turned into more. As furiously as she pressed into him, he was giving it right back to her. He leaned back and she followed him down until they were laying on the blanket and his hands were on her chest and hers tangled in his hair. He tugged his jacket off of her so he could put his hand up her shirt. He continued to kiss her as he rubbed his thumb over her nipple though her bra. She gasped and broke their kiss. His eyes went wide and looked at her.

"What are we doing?" she whispered.

"Whatever we want," he answered.

"Is this what you want?"

"You tell me."

"I want this," she said kissing him again. She slid her hand down his body and could feel he was hard through his jeans. "I think you want it too." He moaned as he felt her hand on his erection, he closed his eyes and almost choked. Her hand stopped as quickly as it had started and he frowned at its absent. He opened his eyes and he saw her getting up. "Bring the blanket," she said as she made her way to their tent. He stood up and whipped off his flannel and then pulled his shirt over his head. He picked up the blanket and headed after her.

He couldn't believe how her body moved against his. So many of the girls he had been with just laid there when they had sex; and at the time, it had been fine with him. He moved one way, she mirrored; he touched her, she countered. It was hard for him to hold back his orgasm due to her enthusiasm. She slowed him and rolled them over to where he was now underneath her. The view was like a work of art and she arched her back and rode him. He could see in her face that she was ready to finish and he came with her slowly. She leaned down and kissed him and he put his arms around her. They laid there for a moment before she got off of him and laid down next to him. She put her head on his chest. She looked at him and found herself grazing her finger tips over the snake tattoo on his neck.

Sweet Pea thought about his relationship with Betty and the way it was developing. It was almost comical how he had resigned himself to bachelor life when he joined the Serpents. He was so young, how did he not know that someday this would probably happen? He cared about her, it showed in the way he felt the need to protect her but that was scary. He knew letting someone in allowed him to be open to getting hurt. He decided they couldn't keep going as they had been by being friends by day and something else at night. It was now or never he thought to himself. He needed to either cut and run or take a chance that she wouldn't reject him.

"I'm ready to talk about us. Are you?" he asked her in a hushed tone.

She wanted to look in his eyes but she was too nervous. Her heart started pounding yet her voice was still steady ."Of course," she said softly.

"What would you think... about us being more than friends?"

Betty kept her calm exterior but her mind was racing. She wanted to say it was a bad idea, maybe because it was so soon after Jughead. But really, they already were doing everything that a couple did. They hung out all of the time, talked constantly, even had an amazing sex life. She should just face the facts and stop lying to herself. She liked him.

"I mean," he continued, "just wondering."

"Well," she said and looked at him carefully. "I'd be open to seeing where things go."

Sweet Pea let out a deep breath and touched her arm for reassurance. "Really?"

"I can't say I haven't entertained what it would be like to be your girlfriend from time to time."

"You got under my skin, Cooper. I don't know how you did it, but I have this thing for you," he said as he planted a kiss on her forehead. She snuggled closer to him and started drifting off to sleep

The next morning they slept in a lot later than they had the day before. He woke up to her fumbling around the tent to find some close so she could get cleaned up. "Good morning."

She looked at him and tried to hold her curls down to her head. "Hey. I was maybe going to go for a quick rinse in the river? Maybe wash my hair and stuff. Did you want to join or-?"

"As much as long as I would like see you naked again, I think I should clean up here so we can get moving."

Betty blushed and nodded. She left the tent and went to take care of things. When she came back from the river she saw that indeed he had everything repacked and he was waiting for her. He had out 2 bottles of water and 2 apples. He handed her an apple as she grabbed up her bag and they departed.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

They made great time heading into Riverdale; they got back to Sweet Pea's bike by the late afternoon. The bar was mostly empty when the two arrived, but Toni was there behind the bar stocking glasses. When she saw them come through the door she ran to them and gave Betty a huge hug.

"Mission accomplished?" she asked excitedly. Betty shook her head to affirm and Toni hugged her friend again. "I am so happy to have a sister Serpent!"

"Me too," Betty said giggling.

"Drinks!" she said dragging Betty over to the bar. She grabbed 3 beers from behind the counter and Sweet Pea used a knife to pop them open. Toni took a drink looked at her. "I have to tell you something that happened while you were gone though. Your mom was here."

"My mom?"

"Yeah, she was on the warpath, again. FP dragged her into the office crying and she left like 30 minutes later."

"Ugh, I hope she doesn't try to stop me from getting my jacket tonight."

From behind Betty she heard someone clear their throat. When she turned around Jughead was standing there. "Not to spoil the celebratory mood," he said dryly," but could I borrow Betty for a moment?" Sweet Pea stepped forward to get between them but Betty put up her hand.

"It's OK," she said as she handed him her drink. "I'll be right back." She followed Jughead over to another part of the bar and they sat down at a table.

"Are you OK?" Jughead asked her while grabbing her hand across the table. She pulled it back to answer.

"I'm fine; what's up, Jug?"

"I guess I just wanted to make sure that, well, you were safe."

"Yeah, I mean look at me. I'm good. I feel better than good."

"How was meeting Merrick?

"It was, enlightening actually. He was gruff but nothing else to worry about."

"I'm glad Sweet Pea protected you when it came down to it."

"He didn't need to. But he was a good partner. We work well together."

"It's good that he was there for you. And didn't try to sleep with you you."

Betty tried to swallow but there was a big lump in her throat. Did she lie to him and say nothing happened? Or should she tell him the truth?

"I'm not going to lie to you Jughead. I slept with him. We have been, for a while."

Jughead's face went whiter and he balled his hands up into fists. That was not what he expected her to say and it got him flustered. "Good. Great. Well, then, um, congrats on your task and stuff. I, um" he said getting up, "have to go. I'll see you tonight." He went to leave but he turned around. "You should probably go talk to my dad. He wanted to know a couple of things."

Betty stood up as well and as they started walking he said to her kindly, "I hope you are happy, Betty. It's all I ever wanted for you."

"I am. I really am. And thanks. I hope you can find your happiness too, Jug."

"I'm about to be king of all you see, how can I not be happy?" he said as he titled his head and touching her arm in a reassuring manner before walking in the other directions.

She headed down the hall to FP's office and knocked on the door. It swung open and even though he looked somewhat surprised to see her but welcomed her in.

"I got a call from my good friend. It seems as though you succeeded in your task," he said sitting down.

"Yes, Mr. Jones. All taken care of. And I wanted to thank you for sending me on that errand. I feel honored to have done that for you; and for Mr. Merrick too."

"I did have a reason to send you on the that specific errand. I wanted you to see the core of what we do here. We take care of our own."

"I see it. I am proud to be joining the Serpents."

FP leaned back in his chair and looked her up and down.

"So speaking of, I have a couple of things to ask you. So, first, have you thought about how you want to help out in the club?"

"I tried. I just can't think of any way that I can be useful."

"Jughead may have slipped that you have some experience working on cars with your dad. What do you think about working on a few bikes from time to time?"

"I'd be up for that. "

"OK. The other thing I wanted to ask you about," he said sighing, "is, who do you want to do your initiation tonight? I have been preparing Jughead but I know things are a little touchy there."

"Does he even want to do it?"

"He wants to be a good leader. We are a family but everyone needs to respect the head."

"Then he should do it. I can handle it."

"If you are sure, then it's done. I'll see you tonight. Can you send my kid in here if you see him?"

When she got back to her friends, Jughead was there with them and that surprised her a little. He was talking to Toni but Sweet Pea was just standing there drinking. He saw Betty coming and got her drink off of the counter. She took it from him with a quick thanks.

"So," Toni said, "we were just talking about what it is going to be like at school tomorrow. For you. At least in our generation you are the first person to get a jacket while going to Riverdale. It's probably going to be some drama."

"We want to just tell you, I want to tell you," Jughead said, "that we have your back."

"Thanks you guys. It really means a lot," she said giving Toni a hug. "Hey, your dad wants to see you," she told Jughead.

"Duty calls," he said sarcastically saluted them before walking off.

"So Jones is going to play nice now?" Sweet Pea said after finishing his beer and putting down the bottle on the bar. He gave a look to Toni to ask permission for another and she nodded. He took one from behind the bar and opened it.

"I hope so," Betty answered. "I told him we were sleeping together."

He spit out a bit of his drink. "You what?"

"I couldn't lie to him, Sweet Pea. He point blank asked if anything happened between us. What's the point of hiding it? Are you hiding me?"

"No," he said putting down his drink. "I just didn't know you were going to start telling people."

Toni put her hand on her hip. She looked from Betty to Sweet Pea and back. "Someone going to clue me in, here? This looks more than just some hooking up."

"It might be," Betty said shyly. "We decided we might try dating for real."

"When did this happen?"

"In the woods."

Sweet Pea cleared his throat to give his two cents, "it's a recent development."

"You guys are something else. Can I maybe talk to you alone?" He stepped forward but she put up her hand. "I meant Betty."

Betty nodded and the two girls stepped away.

"I just want to know if this is for real, or like another fake thing?"

"No, Toni, it's for real."

"You and Jughead have been broken up for like five minutes and that makes you vulnerable. Are you thinking clearly?"

"Yeah I mean, it's just dating. Not like we are getting married."

"I just don't want you to get your heart broken again. I warned you; he's one of my best friends but he is stubborn. He doesn't trust. He doesn't let people in easily. He's damaged. I'm not even sure he knows how to love someone."

"Toni," she said hugging her friend. "I appreciate you caring so much about me, but I'm O.K., I promise."

Toni looked at her and just shook her head. "How do you get him to do this stuff? You are definitely the only girl he's every gone out with, and twice at that."

"I dunno," Betty answered shrugging her shoulders. "But I like him."

"I have to ask though... are you over Jughead? You loved him, Like, a lot. Enough to come up with all of these elaborate plans to try and get him back."

Betty sighed. "I guess I am. I have to move on. Apparently I also have to get some books on how to work on a motorcycle."

"Are you thinking about buying a bike?"

"Not really. But FP wants me to help out around here by working on them. He thought that was a good fit for me."

"Is that something that you've ever done?"

"Kind of. Cars."

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that. It's cool he picked something that interests you. Even though I was kind of hoping to have you washing glasses with me," she said laughing.

"Hey, I have to start to get ready for later. Do you think I could use your shower? I am ripe with Eau de River."

"Oh for sure. What are you going to wear tonight?"

"I have no idea. I totally didn't even things about it!"

"Shopping?"

"Shopping. First shower, then mall."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"Do you think this one is good?" Betty asked coming out of the dressing room at Lacy's Department Store.

"Meh," Toni said. "It kind of makes me think grandma."

"I like the pique collar though!"

"Put on something else."

"Like this one," a voice said from behind Toni.

"Ronnie, you made it!" Betty exclaimed.

"I wouldn't miss shopping with my best girl. Now, seriously put on this dress." She handed a black dress to Betty and sat on the ottoman with Toni. Betty took it to try it on.

"I'm glad you are here too," Veronica said. "I really want to make amends for how I acted at girls night. Please allow me to buy you a hot chocolate. Or maybe you are an espresso girl?"

"I would love that. We should get coffee after this for sure. I think it is going to be a long night."

Just then, Betty came out of the dressing room, "it sure is." The dress that Veronica had picked out was a form fitting black strapless dress that was cut short. Betty tugged it down her bottom a little farther as she asked, "what do you think?"

"Betty you look hot! Like super hot," Veronica answered. "I will buy you this dress."

"You don't have to pay for it," she said looking at the price tag. "Hmm maybe you do."

"No problem, B. Now change quick so we can get caffeinated."

After changing and having Veronica put the dress on her charge card, the three of them headed to the food court to get some coffee. While they waited in line, Betty filled her friend on everything that went down over the weekend.

"So... you and replacement Jughead are back together?"

"Sweet Pea," Betty corrected.

"Right. Sorry."

"But yeah, we are going to make a go of it."

"Is he looking forward to your initiation thing?"

"Um, I guess. I never asked. I assume so. I wish you could be there, V."

"It's OK. Who else understands 'members only' more than moi?"

"I have to say, I am a little surprised you are so cool about it."

"I love you, B. I will support whatever you want to do. Now Archie on the other hand, I am not sure he is going to be so quick to forgive you."

"I expect that. But he will get over it. We have gotten through every fight we have had since we were little."

"Thanks again for treating us, Veronica," Toni said as she took a sip of her drink.

"Anything for a friend," she said in earnest.

"So are you in for Operation Protect Betty at school?"

"Is this really necessary?" Betty butted in.

"Yes, girl. People see you in that jacket and there might be a riot."

"A riot? Really?"

"Honey, you are new to this," Veronica said. "Remember what it was like when the Southside kids first came to our school? People who were your friends tried constantly to get them kicked out. Or worse."

"Yeah but they know me."

"They did it to Jughead," Toni added.

That was something Betty hadn't considered. She wasn't going to be just living in a bubble of other Serpents, but in the real world of Riverdale where they were not the most popular people.

"OK, I accept your 'protection'. If necessary."

"Good girl," Veronica said.

The girls were finishing their drinks while walking out of the mall when it started to drizzle. Veronica's town car seemed to pull up like magic. When she opened the door she motioned for the other two girls to get in. Toni hesitated but she really didn't want to have to walk in the rain. When they were inside Veronica instructed her driver to head to Pop's. She knew that Toni would not want to be seen in a fancy car on their side of town. Pop's was at least only a few minutes walk to the border and maybe it wouldn't be raining anymore by the time that they get there. And Veronica was right. When the car pulled up the light rain had ended and the other two girls were able to head out to Toni's so they could change clothes.

It was 6 o'clock when Toni and Betty arrived back at the Whyte Wyrm. Betty didn't want to admit it, but she was feeling queasy. She just wanted to get this thing over with. Other Serpents were starting to gather around out back so they headed back there too. Sweet Pea was sitting with some of the other boys laughing and messing around. When Betty walked over to them they went silent and Sweet Pea stood up. He saw she was in her favorite brown rain coat and her penny loafers. This was the Betty he first met the night of FP's failed retirement party and he liked that she was dressed this way for her last night of Northsider life. "Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"You look nice," he said reaching out and touching a curl in her hair. She had worn it down and the rain made it curl up in little baby curls even around her face.

"Thanks. Wait until you see my dress."

He got close to her and whispered, "I can't wait to see you out of it."

Betty blushed and turned away.

"You ready to get your jacket?" one of the guys asked. Betty was pretty sure they called him Rosie.

"I am very ready."

"Are you nervous? You can have a drink with us!" Rosie said offering her a plastic cup.

"Um, thanks?" Betty said nervously. "I am a bit but I'd rather be sober."

"Suit yourself." The teen mouthed 'saint' to the others as he turned away.

Betty caught it out of the corner of her eye and it stung. She was fighting to join this club but it seemed even the people in it didn't think she belonged there. "What was that?" she challenged.

He looked down and away. Betty scanned the faces of the other Serpents sitting there and their faces all read guilty.

One of the others spoke up, "Saint Betty. It's what people have been calling you behind your back." Betty swallowed. She felt embarrassed and she could feel her cheeks were on fire.

Sweet Pea leaned back into her because he could see she was uncomfortable. "Don't be quick to judge them; They don't know you like I do. I swear they are good people."

Betty looked at Sweet Pea and she could see the earnest look on his face. These guys may not have a high view of her now but maybe they would someday. She was starting to see how loyalty worked in this club but also respect. Loyalty was given but respect was earned; kind of the opposite of how she had always thought it to be. "On second thought," she said sitting down next to him, "I'll drink with you. Why not, right?" She was passed the cup of she didn't want to know what and she took a gulp. A couple of them clapped and Sweet Pea just smiled at her; he knew it would take some time for all of the Serpents to accept her but they would in the end see what a special person she was, just like he did.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

As the sun started to go down it was getting colder Betty pulled her coat closed a little farther. FP and Jughead came outside and everyone gave them their attention. There was a small deck on the back of the bar that gave them a little elevation over everyone standing around and that is where Jughead posted himself as FP went down into the crowd. Betty stood up and went over to him as it seemed they were ready to begin. Initiation was going to be a simple enough ceremony; most Southsiders didn't want anything filled with stuffy grandeur. Betty was feeling exhausted. She was running on fumes by this time between the walking, the camping, and what had really been an emotional roller coaster. Jughead addressed the crowd and he talked through the laws with a booming voice. Betty was able to recite them all with vigor and he gave her a half smile. She looked out at the people watching. Sweet Pea and Toni stood together with the other younger Serpents. There were more people there now than at the start and they were all intently observing her. But as she glanced around, there was one person in attendance that she had not expected; her mom. She was so shocked she didn't notice that Jughead was holding out her jacket. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked trying to speak inconspicuously.

"My mom is here."

He nodded as he understood at how confusing that probably was for her. Betty's mom had not been a fan of the Serpents in recent years and had been pretty vocal about her not joining. Yet there she was, standing next to his dad with a resigned look on her face.

"Breathe. It's almost over."

Betty closed her eyes and took off her rain coat. A couple of the boys her age whistled at her in her dress and she smiled shyly. She put up one arm after another for Jughead to slip sleeves around her and then she shrugged the leather garment up onto herself. She straightened it from the front and felt that it was tough in her hands. This was not like wearing Sweet Pea's worn in jacket where the material was supple and smooth. This was something rough and smelled almost sterile. It was perfectly clean which was right for a new start.

The crowd of people around her clapped and Jughead shook her hand and said, "Welcome to the family." He pulled her in for a hug and she put her arms around him. She hand her head on his shoulder for just a moment just she could smell his scent, like sweat and oil, and memories of them flooded her mind. She looked up at him wide eyed and he stepped away. She could sense it in him that he wanted to kiss her. He had this tell where the corner of his mouth would twitch when he was thinking about it. They just stood there staring at each other until a voice called out, "someone get this girl a drink!" The clapping got louder and lot of the men were laughing and it took Betty back to reality. Toni had run up to them to help Betty down from the deck and yanked her into a hug of her own. "You did it, girl! You're one of us for real now." Betty squeezed her friend back. The younger Serpents all came up around her to congratulate her but out of the corner of her eye it looked as if her mom was leaving and she knew she had to talk to her.

"Hey guys, give me a minute. I want to catch my mom." She broke away from the group and went and called after her.

Alice turned around and Betty could see her mom was tearing up.

"Mom... you came?"

"Yes, well," her mom said trying to blot her eyes with her sleeve, "what kind of mother would I be if I didn't?"

"One that is disappointed in her daughter. I know this is not what you wanted."

Alice took her daughter into her arms and put her head on top of Betty's. "You're right. I want what is best for you. Everything I have ever done was so that my family would have something better than I had." She stepped back from her. "When I was your age, I felt like I had no choice but to join the Serpents. If you were from the Southside you were going nowhere. But it got old fast and I saw an opportunity to get out and I took it. I swore my kids would never live like I did or make the same mistakes. But you, Betty, you have a choice and you chose this. Watching you up there, it was looking at myself in a mirror. I am so scared that you are ruining your life."

"Mom, I-"

"But if this is what you want, I can not stop you. You are just like me at your age. A fighter, passionate. Maybe I lost some of that when I married your father but it doesn't mean I have stopped caring about you. I will be accepting of this because I don't want to drive you away like we did your sister. But I've got some rules of my own."

"Really?"

"Really," she said hugging her again. "You have to promise me, you will stay in school. And you will not touch drugs."

"Mom!" Betty said surprised.

"Promise me."

"OK, I promise."

"And no staying out all night. If you aren't coming home you have to tell me where you are going."

"Yes, Mom."

"And do not let any of these boys disrespect you. You are my daughter and they need to remember that."

"OK!" Betty said. "Anything else?"

Her mom shook her head

"Thanks. I will see you at home?"

"Bye, Elizabeth," her mom said heading to her car.

Betty walked back towards her friends and they headed inside. Sweet Pea came up next to her and squeezed her hand down low where no one would see. She looked at him and smiled. They sat at a table near to the bar so they could still talk to Toni who had to work now that the bar was packed. A drink magically appeared in front of Betty and she looked around until she saw one of the older Serpents toasting her from across the bar. She picked up her drink and tilted it towards him before taking a sip.

"I'd remember to go slow if you want to able to make it through school tomorrow," Sweet Pea said and she giggled remembering the last time people bought her drinks.

"Yeah, I've never been much of a drinker."

"Don't say that too loudly; Fangs over here might take that as a challenge."

"Too late," Fangs said from across the table. "Next one is on me for sure." He winked at her and sat back in his chair.

Betty just blushed and continued sipping on her drink.

"So, Betty. Why don't you tell us about yourself?"

"Um well, I don't know. What do you want to know?"

"What do you do for fun?"

"Well, I spend a lot of time reading or writing for the school paper. I work on cars with my dad. And I'm a River Vixen."

"Oh, a cheerleader. Super hot."

"Watch it, Fangs" Sweet Pea butted in.

"And things are over with you and our fearless leader right? So you're single?"

Betty looked over at Sweet Pea. They hadn't exactly talked about this. Were they telling people that they were dating? He had sort a reputation and she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable around his friends if he wasn't ready to talk about it with them. She saw absolute terror in his eyes so she thought of what to say quickly.

"Things are over with Jughead but, things are complicated. I'm not really looking for anyone right now."

"Pity," he responded. "You should let me buy you that drink though."

"Yeah, OK."

"A dark shadow approaches," Fangs said putting his glass down on the table. They watched a blank faced Jughead walked behind their table and over to the bar where he sat down in front of Toni's work station. "You were smart to dodge that bullet. You are way too pretty to be dating dark and moody."

"Thanks, I guess. He's not always like that. It just seems lately."

Fangs shrugged and went to the bar to get another beer.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Jughead was stressed out. He should have felt relief now that Betty's initiation was over but his nerves were still strained. It was so hard to have her around him. Watching her having fun with the other younger Serpents struck him with a wave of jealousy. Even in the one place he should feel like he fit in, he didn't. She was just so likeable, she was charming everyone with her winning personality but what else would be have expected? Plus he had enough going on with school and taking over the Serpents he didn't have time to keep thinking about her all of the time. He never should have hugged her because now he kept thinking about how she felt touching his body. He had wanted to kiss her so badly and it took everything in him to have restraint. He knew that he didn't need to go there again and relive the heart ache. And then on top of it all, he still was reeling knowing about her sleeping with Sweet Pea. The whole situation was confusing; they were dating for like a week then they were broken up. Now they were just hooking up? That just didn't seem like his Betty, but she wasn't his anymore. Toni looked at him sympathetically as she cleaned out a glass with a towel.

"Why so down?" she asked him. "This was your big night! FP blessed you to do something on your own. Maybe he thinks you are ready to take over?"

"I don't know about that. There is some stuff that I got my dad into and I think he's still pissed at me."

"What is it?"

"You know that favor that Archie and I did that helped my dad get out of jail?"

"Yeah."

"Let's just call this back payment. And it's not the kind of work that I want the Serpents to have to keep doing. I just have to figure out how to get us out of it."

"Your dad blames you?"

"Yeah. He told me not to get involved. And I did. I suck at making the right decision. The Serpents. Betty."

"What do you mean, exactly?"

Jughead took a deep breath, he was ready to deliver his soliloquy. "Here it is: I know I have always been kind of out there; a lone wolf. But why did I have to push Betty away? Now that the whole thing is over and she is in the Serpents anyway, I feel like it all was waste. If I'd have just had the courage to take care of her, we could still be together."

"I don't know, Jughead. It's what you thought was right at the time."

"I'm a fool, I think. On all accounts. I just feel like I keep making all of these bad decisions that affect other people."

"So what are you going to do?"

"No idea. Do you think it's worth talking to Betty? Do you think she would take me back?"

"I thought we were talking about the Serpents now... but I guess we can talk about your girl problems."

Jughead took off the hat he was wearing, smoothed down his hair and put it back on. "I know I shouldn't be focused on her when I have all this other stuff going on but I still can't get her off of my mind."

"Can I give you advice?"

"Please."

"Don't try to stop thinking about her. She's not going anywhere, you just have to figure out how to live with her."

"It's fucking killing me."

"Maybe," she suggested, "you should try to hook up with someone."

Jughead gave her an incredulous look. "Me?"

"I mean, why not? Now that Sweet Pea is off the market there are lots of bored girls around who would love to hook up with the next Serpent king."

"Back up a second." That did not at all sound like the Sweet Pea he knew. "Off the market?"

Toni blushed and realized she had said something that she shouldn't. Apparently Betty hadn't shared the full scope of what was going on between her and Sweet Pea. She didn't blame her friend; Jughead was in this super fragile state and it seemed like anything concerning her made him get out of sorts.

"Yeah, well. The truth? Betty and Sweet Pea are you know, casual... And it just happened, I swear.'

Jughead closed his eyes to process this new information. For some reason it felt different to him to know that they were not just having sex but actually romantically involved. He was trying to take even breaths so that he could stay calm. Even though the thought made his stomach turn, he had to get over it; he had to man up. He was silly to think that she would just sit around and wait for him. He had a decision to make, this was probably his last chance if he wanted to change this situation with Betty. The problem was should he follow his dad's advice and leave her alone or go to her with his hurting heart?

"Got it," he finally said. "I'll talk you later OK? I just realized there is something I have to do."

"Are you going to be all right?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Toni opened a beer and put it front of him. "Please take this. It's on me." Jughead grabbed the bottle and got up from the bar. He took a drink and walked over to the table where the other young Serpents were sitting and the table got quiet.

"You don't have to be stop on my account," he said taking another sip.

The conversation started to pick up again and Sweet Pea took his phone out of his pocket. He typed a quick message and put it away. A few moments later Betty felt her phone vibrate in her coat pocket. Betty took hers out and read the message to her self. 'Want to celebrate just the two of us?' She responded affirmatively. Sweet Pea winked at her and then put his drink down, asking if people wanted to play cards. When most agreed he said he would go grab some and be back.

After a few minutes Betty excused herself to go to the restroom. As she got up, Jughead caught her by the elbow and asked her to talk. Betty was torn because she knew Sweet Pea would be waiting but she didn't want to blow their cover either.

"OK but make it quick? I really have to pee," she said.

"It won't take long. I'll walk with you." He waited until they were out of earshot of the others before he started. "Look, I just wanted to say that I am happy that you joined the Serpents. I really am."

"Really?"

"Yes. And I just want to let you know that I know your secret... Toni may have accidentally spilled the beans on you and Sweet Pea."

It was Betty's turn to blush in front of him. "I can explain things, Jug. I didn't plan on this happening. We just got close... to be honest he was trying to help us get back together."

"Why would he do that? I swear he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you. He's just worried. The Serpents are all he has and things have been pretty good under FP."

"I'm trying my best. It's just always hard to know what the best decision is."

Betty was silent while the wheels in her head turned. Was there a way that she could smooth things over between them?

"Maybe you can like, ask him for help? The other kids really seem to respect him; and some of the old guys too. It might be a good way to extend the olive branch? If it's for the good of the club, there is no way he'd turn you down."

"I'll think on that," he said as the two of them made it to the bathroom in the back of the bar. Betty pointed to the door and Jughead let her go inside. As he walked away he thought about his decision more. If he really wanted to get back together, he was going to have to convince her to break it off with Sweet Pea. It sounded like she had been open to getting back with him, at least at one time she was; he was going to have to appeal to that side of her. He was also going to have to act fast too, in case things got serious. Maybe even tomorrow at school.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Betty waited for a few minutes for Jughead to be walk back to the bar and when the hallway was empty, she headed over to Sweet Pea's room. She tried the door and it was unlocked so she let herself in.

"It looks like it's taking you a while to find that deck of cards," she joked as she went over to sit next to him on his bed.

"Yeah, maybe you should help me look for them," he said taking her face in his hand and kissing her.

"Maybe," she said kissing him back.

He helped her out of her jacket in between kisses and she did the same for him. He took off his shirt as he looked down at her in her dress and she was right, she looked amazing.

"I am the luckiest man," he whispered as he slipped off her underwear.

Betty couldn't wait for foreplay; All of the emotion from this whole day had welled up inside her and she needed and outlet. She pushed him back and undid his belt, his pants and slid them down. She pulled him out of his boxers and she was on him. He groaned feeling her grind against him as they kissed and he was instantly hard. He reached for his bedside table and fumbled around in the drawer for protection. Betty straddled his stomach and sucked on his neck just long enough for him to put a condom on. He rolled up the hem of her dress so he could put his hands on her bottom and guide himself into her. As she moved on top of him he looked in her eyes and brushed her back out of her face. He put his arms around her and pulled her down so he could kiss her. He rolled them over so he could now take control; he wanted this night to be memorable for her in more ways than one. As he thrust inside of her he pulled down the top of her dress so that he could touch her. Betty closed her eyes and sighed. He continued moving deep inside her and she had her hands in his hair. She was so beautiful to him, it was hard for him to not finish. He put one hand in between her legs to help her along and it was only minutes before they both climaxed. The two of them laid on the bed catching their breath for a moment before Betty started looking for her underwear.

"Going so soon?" Sweet Pea asked her.

"I mean... people are going to notice we are gone."

"Yeah, you are right. So how do you want to do this?"

"Maybe if you go out to the table now, I can hit the bathroom for real and then sneak over to the bar."

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed as he started getting dressed.

She started fixing her hair and tried her best to smooth her dress back out. Before heading out the door she went over to Sweet Pea who was putting on a new t shirt and gave him a quick kiss.

"Thanks. For everything," she said as she slipped away.

He found himself smiling and looked at the door after she was gone. He had a thought cross his mind and it was that he really liked this girl. He never would have guessed that he would have fallen for her. When he first met her he thought she was just a good girl from the other side of town trying to slum it for her Southside boyfriend but he was learning that she was more. She had this passion inside of her that spilled out into whatever she did; it was more heart than he had in him. Her mind worked so fast that she had an answer for everything and she always wanted to know every detail. He hated that he was making her sneak around with him like this because he was so proud of her; but he felt like the others might not understand. He got interesting looks the first time when it wasn't even real. He could at least brush it off then like she was some sort of conquest. But now, what would they say if they knew he had feelings for her?

He headed back out into the bar and headed back over to the table where he had been sitting. Some of the guys razzed him for being gone for a long time and he made some excuse about how he couldn't find the cards anywhere because they were in his jacket pocket. The groaned as he threw the pack on the table and someone grabbed them to deal. Over at the bar, Betty was sitting down near Toni. Her friend poured liquor into a shot glass and set it in front of her.

"A gift, from Fangs," she said with an amused tone.

Betty laughingly took the glass and held it up for inspection. She turned around on her stool to look over at the other to the other table to see if she could say thanks but she saw the boys were all intently looking at the cards in their hands. She tilted the shot towards Toni before swallowing it down. She promptly started coughing as she put down the shot glass.

"How about another one of those?" she asked.

"Ha ha, funny," Toni said rolling her eyes.

Betty cracked a small smile. "This has been quite a weekend."

"I know, girl."

"And now tomorrow, back to the real world."

"Yeah. But we have your back if things get crazy."

"Hopefully it's not."

"Hopefully it's just another uneventful day at Riverdale High."

"Speaking of, I have bit of work to do that I have neglected all weekend. I"m going to head out if I can maybe get away."

"Are you going to ask your boyfriend to take you home?" Toni teased only loud enough for Betty to hear.

"Shh!"

"Why are you guys hiding, exactly? You were pretty out in the open during your whole Jughead manipulation scheme."

"Ask Sweet Pea," she said shrugging. "He doesn't seem like he wants to talk about it. Speaking of Jughead... you told him?"

"It was a super accident. I didn't know it was a secret. You said you had told him that you guys had slept together so I just assumed you told him you were dating."

"I get it. I'm not mad, I was just surprised."

"Still; sorry, girl."

"So I will meet you outside tomorrow at school?"

"Absolutely."

Betty looked at her phone and it was already past nine on a school night. Under normal circumstances her mom would be blowing up her phone trying to 'make sure she wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere', but she could now relish in her new longer leash. Did she want to stay out all night in party? On one hand yes, this was a life altering night, but on the other hand she still had her GPA to think about. When she got up and turned she had a good view of everything going on in the bar around her. The first thing that caught her eye was Jughead sitting by himself with his laptop fully engrossed in what he was doing. She couldn't help looking at him and smiling, thinking that she may have finally moved towards some closure. On the other side of the room was her new beau, laughing with his friends. Well, technically, her new friends. The way he smiled almost made her melt standing there. She shook her head quickly to stop herself from staring before she was caught. Apparently it was too late because Sweet Pea gave her sly wink that made her blush. She headed over to their table to say goodnight to everyone.

When she got over there she had planned on just asking Sweet Pea to take her home but the first person to greet her was Fangs.

"Can I buy you another drink, gorgeous?" he asked her.

Betty shook her head. "I'm actually going to be heading out," she said and the boys a groaned.

"I can't wait until winter break. School is such BS," one of the guys piped in.

"Yeah, well, I've got something for school to do so I have get home."

"Do you need a ride?" Fangs offered with a smirk from a dirty thought.

"Um," she fumbled as her cheeks tinged pink.

"I got it," Sweet Pea answered for her as he got out of his chair.

Fangs also got up as well; he was thinking, who was his friend to lay claim to the first real new blood in a while, especially when they had already been there done that? But he only stood for a moment as he saw the determination in Sweet Pea's eyes. He raised his eyebrow at him and Sweet Pea had to divert his eyes as to not give his secret away. Fangs was going to have talk with him about this sooner rather than later as it wasn't like him to be protective of a girl and sharing them around the Serpent's was pretty common. Sweet Pea could feel that his actions were being scrutinized by his friend.

"Come on, Cooper. Get your stuff if I am still taking you," he said tying the shirt around his waist tighter.

Betty waved to them all as she followed him to leave the bar. She went over to get a few things that Toni was keeping for her so they could go. She still could see Jughead out of the corner of her eye and she had an idea. If she could have closure with him, maybe Sweet Pea could as well. If she could get the to bury the hatchet, like she and him had talked about earlier that night it might make things less awkward. She was starting her new life fresh, maybe they could too.

Betty went over to Sweet Pea and put her hand next to her mouth standing on her tiptoes to whisper to him. No one could fully hear what she was saying but whatever it was, Sweet Pea didn't look to happy about it but he just nodded and pressed his lips together. The things he would do for her never ceased to amaze him. As they approached where the boy was sitting, he took a step towards Jughead and the other boy was worried that he was about to get punched. It wouldn't have surprised Jughead in the slightest as he had sampled his wrath before. Instead Sweet Pea extended his hand to Jughead and after a moment of just staring at his hand, he took it.

"Jones, I know we haven't always been the best of friends but Betty thinks we should work on it." Betty elbowed him in the ribs to correct what he had said to what she had wanted him to say. "I mean, I think we should work on it."

"I'd like that," he responded. He recalled his conversation with Betty and thought that she probably had the right idea. So he made a proposition. "I'm calling a meeting for tomorrow after school, younger Serpents only. I need help with something, you in?"

"Yeah, I'll be there."

"OK, cool. You guys getting out of here?"

"Yeah," Betty said. "He's going to take me home."

"See you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, later," Sweet Pea said for the both of them as he started ushering Betty outside.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The next morning Sweet Pea picked up Betty for school on his bike. This was another big milestone for her in her taking back her life. Her morning had gone pretty decently; Alice had left a glass of water and two aspirin on her bed side table in case of a hangover which Betty considered helpful. She didn't really need it but a kind gesture from her mother meant a lot right now. Getting dressed had been somewhat of a struggle for her that day as well; she felt like most of her clothes did not really say "motorcycle gang". She finally came downstairs in a denim skirt and a sleeveless button up top. She replaced her normal penny loafers with a pair of sneakers and wore half of her hair up. She had applied her makeup mostly as she had done every day for 3 years but did use a bit of black liner on her eyes. Not that she thought her look was bad ass but she did think it fit the comfortable feeling she had with the new path of her life.

Her mom had left out some cereal for her with a note that she had gone to The Register. She poured herself some and as she started eating she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. It was a text from Archie asking if she wanted to walk with him to school. She texted him back that she had a ride there today but she'd try to see him and Veronica during free period. She knew he would come around but also wondered if Veronica had given him a nudge. He had been pretty distant since the day they had gone on that double date a few weeks ago, especially after he found out she was also pledging the Serpents. Veronica said he had felt like she and Jughead were abandoning them. She didn't want him to feel that way but she had to do it for herself, just like Jughead had his own reasons.

When she put her bowl in the sink, there was knock at her door and Sweet Pea was standing there when she opened it. She let him in and he immediately was kissing her. He backed her into the kitchen counter as they continued making out. Eventually she pushed him back and straightened her skirt back down. "Hello, you," she said softly. "What was all of that for?"

"That? That was punishment," he said letting out a small laugh in between sucking on her neck.

"Punishment for what?"

"For making me shake hands with fucking Jones last night."

"Oh, that," she said with a mischievous have smile.

"Yes, that. I hope this meeting he is calling is not a waste of my time tonight."

"Tonight? He did say that... didn't he? I won't be there. I have cheer practice."

"Maybe I can see you after?" He paused. "If you want."

She leaned back into him and gave him a peck on the lips and answered, "Of course, I want. You are my boyfriend, right?"

Sweet Pea looked in her big eyes and they almost seemed to sparkle at him. What was this life that he was living? Just a few short weeks ago he was a bitter asshole and he had embraced it. He was loyal only to the Serpents first and then to himself second. But now he had this beautiful girl in his arms and things just seemed so different. His mood was brighter and he felt, actually felt something besides pissed off. Having a relationship had been the last thing on his mind but here it was. They were dating; he thought he might be out of his mind. What is dating if not hanging out until you figure out if you have feelings for that person? And he did have feelings for her. Since they left for her initiation task she had been driving him crazy as it was hard for him to not think about her every moment. At first it was terrifying to him, most of the weekend he had gone back and forth about whether or not he should act on his attraction. Now the idea was definitely growing on him but he was unsure of how to act or how his friends would perceive this change in his chronically single status. He wasn't so much as attached to the reputation that of being a self ascribed player, but he did rely on the what it said to others. It showed he was tough, not easily swayed, and that he was his own man. It was that reputation that garnered the respect of other Serpents and that was something he did like. If he was honest, though, none of that mattered when he looked at Betty. He put a hand on each side of her face and kissed her deeply. He pulled away a few inches and used one thumb to rub her bottom lip as he shook his head yes. Betty just smiled a shy smile and leaned her head forward onto his.

Sweet Pea did move away after a few moments as he felt his cell vibrate in his pocket. It was FP telling him he had a job for him after school. He had been doing more of these quick jobs lately and they were not his favorite. Quick jobs usually meant drugs and they either paid very little or did not pay at all but he never said no to FP. He hadn't been asking Jughead and it made Sweet Pea feel good that he had that over him, that his dad would pick him if it was a choice between them. Before Jughead had joined he was on the fast track to maybe being something himself one day but as long as he was around Sweet Pea was relegated back to soldier. With him making a truce with Jughead, maybe he was back on track to doing more with his future; but in the mean time he needed to keep his head up and work hard for his dad. He texted FP back that he would see him at their normal time so that he could still meet up with Jughead and the other young Serpents.

"I'm not sure I am going to get to see you tonight after all," he said putting his phone back in his pocket.

"What's up?"

"I've got a job I have to take care of with FP and I don't want you to have to wait up."

Even though Betty was disappointed, she understood. She grabbed her jacket off of the counter and put it on. She grabbed Sweet Pea's hand and then took her book bag and slung it over her shoulder. "OK. Well... let's get this show on the road," she said leading him out the door.

When they got to school, Toni was waiting for them already on the steps. They walked over to her after Sweet Pea locked up his bike.

"You ready?" Toni asked her.

"Ready as I'm going to be," she said taking a deep breath. As she put her hand on the rail to head of the steps, Veronica opened the door and peeked her head out.

"B, I have something you have to see; and I don't think any of you guys are going to like it."


	29. Chapter 29

A/N: I have been stuck on this chapter for a week. I even skipped ahead and wrote the ending (only a few more entries to go) now I am just connecting the dots.

Chapter 29

Veronica led the way as the three girls and Sweet Pea walked into school. As they approached Betty's locker she could see exactly what Veronica was talking about. On the outside she could see someone had written 'Go to hell Serpent Slut' in what looked like red paint, or worse blood. Betty's eyes welled up with frustrated tears. Why were people so cruel? She turned to Toni who embraced her and let her wipe her eyes on her shirt.

Sweet Pea balled his hand into an angry fist. "I swear someone has a death wish today."

Down the hallway Jughead saw the scene unfolding and practically ran to them. When he saw what was written there he was just as pissed as Sweet Pea. How dare someone disrespect her like that? Or the attack one of the Serpents for that matter.

"Betty, we can get this cleaned up in no time. Please don't cry," Veronica was saying while trying to console her by putting her hand on her arm.

Betty tried to stop crying and snorted loudly. She giggled a little at herself and started to calm down.

"I just can't look at this anymore," she said taking a deep breath.

Jughead thought for a moment and suggested, "maybe you should come put your stuff in my locker and they will take care of this, OK?"

Betty agreed wordlessly and followed him over to his locker. Sweet Pea watched them walk down the hallway thinking he should have offered to do that himself but to be honest he hadn't brought a book to school all year and didn't even know his combination. He could see them putting some books in his locker and then he saw Jughead help her take off her jacket and hang it up with his. Such a small act, probably rooted in kindness, made him feel jealous seeing that it was Jughead helping her out instead of him. He wanted to go over there and swoop her up and be the one to make her feel better but he still wasn't ready for people to know about them. He turned and looked back towards her locker and saw that the girls were already using some bathroom paper towels to try and get her it clean. But even though it seemed like it was coming off easily, the scar of that message, knowing Betty, was likely to last much longer. He grabbed some of the paper towel roll and started cleaning.

After Jughead helped Betty put her jacket in her locker he handed her her back pack from off of the ground.

"Are you going to be all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I will be OK. I really didn't think that it would be a big deal that I joined the Serpents."

"We tried to warn you."

"I know. I just... like to hope for the best in people."

"No you don't," he said playfully shoving her shoulder. "You like conspiracy theories just as much as I do. Everyone seems to have a secret in this town and you love to figure out what it is."

"True. I guess I try to hope for the best from people I thought were my friends."

"Welcome to the other side of the looking glass, Betts," he said shutting his locker door. "Do you want me to walk you to class?"

Betty looked back down the hall and saw her friends still busying themselves with cleaning up the mess on her locker. She really didn't want to be alone so she said yes and he put his arm around her to reassure her that everything would be fine before starting her off towards her first period. Betty turned back as they were walking to see Sweet Pea look up and she waved a little two finger wave before going around the corner.

Something about that scene rubbed Sweet Pea the wrong way. Here he was scrubbing gunk off her locker and Jughead was wiping away her tears? At least he wasn't acting smug about it; this whole thing made him so pissed he just needed an excuse to kick someone's ass. But, really who did he have to blame but himself? His weird insecurity about letting people in on their new relationship was keeping him from doing what he really wanted to do; which was grab Betty, put her on his bike and just ride until they were far away from the rest of the assholes at this school. No matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't risk it.

He continued scrubbing and he looked over at Veronica. Seeing her help out her friend somewhat impressed him. Of all people, he had expected the princess to cut and run when Betty became a Serpent but she was still here and still had her back. It made him feel good to know that Betty had someone that he felt she could trust; maybe he had been wrong about at least some of these Northside kids.

Toni saw Sweet Pea lost in thought and she assumed he was worrying about Betty. "Do you want to go check on her? We are almost done here," she asked.

"I don't know if I can. I don't know how to make this better. Not in front of people."

"Are you more worried about what people think about you than how hurt your girlfriend feels right now?" she questioned and to him those words stung. Instead of worrying about how she was feeling he was thinking about his own ego. What a jerk. He always said he wasn't scared of anything but he was terrified of one thing: being viewed as soft. Was showing affection to Betty going to make people lose respect in him? He really had to decide if she was worth all of that... and maybe she was. She was the one person that he even gave a crap about and was accepting of who he was and his life. What was the point of trying to start a relationship with her if he couldn't even be comfortable with her in public? They really had to talk but when he looked up at the hallway clock he could see the the first bell was about to ring and he was going to have to move fast as to not be late and be stuck in detention after school. Even if he wasn't ready to talk about it, at least he'd get to see her later at lunch time.

In class, Betty was having a really hard time concentrating for someone who was an excellent student. So many thoughts were running through her mind about her joining the Serpents, as well as her friends, and Sweet Pea. It was making her so nauseated that she rose her hand to get the bathroom pass. As she escaped the stuffy classroom into the freedom of the hallway she felt a little better. She walked down the hall to the nearest bathroom and went inside. She went over to the sink and put some cold water on some paper towel and dabbed around the sides of her face and put it on the back of her neck. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sucked in her cheeks turning her head from side to side. At least she hadn't stayed out all night so her eyes weren't totally puffy. She could see a small bruise forming on her collar bone, a physical reminder of Sweet Pea. She lightly pressed on it until it burned, remembering the feeling of his lips being there. She had to admit it; there was something about the way he made her feel that was not like when she was with Jughead. She hated to compare them like this but she could not help it. In the beginning, she thought she could just pretend that he _was_ Jughead. But now she knew that it wasn't even what she wanted. She wanted the way Sweet Pea's mouth seared her skin. She wanted his sarcasm. She wanted the feeling of his body against hers as they rode on his motorcycle. Even if there were people that didn't think she belonged in the Serpents, it was the exact place she wanted to be. Hopefully soon, everyone would come around, too.

She took a deep breath and sighed. As much as she knew her own wants, she couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. She was trying not to get hung up on Sweet Pea not feeling comfortable enough to tell people the were seeing each other... but that wasn't easy. Was he embarrassed of her because his friends thought she was a goody goody? Or was he not ready to make a commitment?

Maybe it was just the adrenaline of the last few weeks but her feelings for him were quickly amplifying from attraction to something so much more. It hurt when she considered that the reason he didn't want to tell people was because he didn't feel for her the same way she felt. It was all so confusing and she knew they needed to talk it out soon. She decided there was nothing she could do to make herself feel better in the moment so she might as well head back to class.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

It was finally lunch time and the only other time she was going to see Sweet Pea all day. She headed into the cafeteria and went over to where they usually sat. Most of the kids that they sat with were already there but she was able to see an open seat next to him.

"Thank God you are finally here," Toni said rolling her eyes when Betty approached. "Sweet Pea has been passive aggressively saving you that seat for 10 minutes."

Sweet Pea played like he was hurt and said, "What? I can't help if no one else wanted to sit by me."

"You almost growled when I tried to sit there."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," he said with a smirk.

Betty reached with her hand under the table to try and grab his but he pulled away. He gave her a sympathetic look.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked. "We got everything taken care of with your locker."

"Yeah, I'm doing OK. I should have been more prepared for something like this to happen, honestly. You all tried to warn me."

"That doesn't excuse other people's behavior," Toni added. "You don't deserve that crap. None of us do."

"I know. I let it get to me, though; and that's on me. I'm just going through some stuff," she said, nudging Sweet Pea's knee with hers, trying to let him know she was bothered about how he was acting. He didn't seem to notice and kept eating his lunch. Betty moved back and forth in her seat uncomfortably. "You know, my stomach is not feeling that great. I think I might go to the office and lay down." She stood up, grabbed her stuff, and vacated quickly. Sweet Pea looked after her but he knew he couldn't go after he without people talking.

As Betty ventured into the hallway, Jughead intercepted her as he was late getting to lunch. "Are you OK? You're kind of extra pale."

"Not really. I'm feeling kind of sick. I was going to try and go lay down."

"Maybe I should escort you; I can tell you really don't feel well."

"Um... sure."

"Come to the Blue and Gold office, maybe its empty and you can rest there?"

"Yeah, maybe."

The two of them walked the few feet to to the newspaper room and went inside. Betty leaned back against the door to catch her breath and closed her eyes as she felt a little dizzy. If she was being honest in that moment, she wouldn't have been able to tell what was making her feel so crappy. She looked up at Jughead and she could see he was concerned. That was a look that she was used to him wearing when he was around her and it was doing something to her heart. This was always going to be weird for them, wasn't it? She was going to have to be alone with him from time to time but how was she going to figure out how to relate to him as her friend and not as her boyfriend? She couldn't lie to herself; she did still feel something for him. Being around him was familiar because they had been in and out of love for the better part of the year. Even if she still cared for him though, she could not let herself forget about how had betrayed her that night she first pledged the Serpents. How he had broken her heart. Now she was just starting to heal and find her own identity outside of their relationship again.

Jughead stood there and just looked at her. A million thoughts were ran through his head because he knew this was his now or never moment. He had her alone and if he wanted to get her back this was the time to tell her how he felt. But when he opened his mouth, the words he wanted to say could not come out. She tried to turn but he quickly had her hands in his and he had her pinned up against the door. His face was so close she could feel his breath on her eyelashes.

"God, Betty, I miss you. I miss this. I so was in the wrong. I messed up everything between us."

"What are you saying?" she asked quietly even though she had an idea of where this was going.

"I still love you. Every time I look at you, I want to kiss you. Like right now."

"Jug, you can't," she said now in almost a whisper. "You broke my heart and I can't just forget about that."

He took his unwound their fingers but put his forehead to hers. He closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm an idiot. This is just another entry in the long list of my bad decisions."

She moved her arms to hug him. She had to admit, it felt so nice to be close to him like this. Her heart was pounding just like the night before and all of the the feelings were welling up inside of her. She thought to herself, could she just forgive him and give this a try again? It felt so right to be with him; but it felt right with Sweet Pea too. It truly was all so confusing and that even though she had been so certain of what she wanted, now she was waffling. With her boyfriend being so secretive and everything, she was vulnerable. It hurt when he denied her in front of his friends but here was Jughead, being so sweet, would it be better just to start over with him again? Truthfully? No way. This was just remnants of a relationship that they had left behind. She kept saying she moved had on, now she needed to show it by her actions.

"I'm with Sweet Pea now, you need to respect that."

She felt bad knowing that he had been hurting as much as she had. It sucked. It made her feel so silly for all of her failed attempts to get him back, too. Time alone is what prompted him to want her back but that was the one thing she didn't give him; apparently she was an impatient person. Even with Sweet Pea too. She had been so wrapped up in all the stuff she was feeling and internalizing everything, she wasn't thinking about how he felt. This was a big adjustment for him and she needed to have some respect herself.

"I'm sorry you are feeling this way," she continued, "but you were right when you said it was better if we weren't together. Can't we figure out how to be friends?"

"I guess we have to; I've been trying. I just never thought it was going to be this hard with you."

"We do have to. I'm in the Serpents to stay, but I have moved on from us."

He nestled his head down into her shoulder and nodded. He didn't know how it would be possible to just see her as just a friend but he refused to lose her for good. He could still have her in his life, by his side her in the Serpents, just not in that way.

"Look," she said gently nudging him back, "I appreciate that you are trying to be here for me, I really do. It means so much to know that you of all people are not turning their back on me right now. I will always be there for you, too. Just not... romantically."

He shook his head because he did understand what she was saying. She had moved on and it was probably time for him to do so as well. Maybe this was best for him, really. He could stop worrying about her and focus more on taking over the Serpents. It was almost laughable that a 17 year old was going to be leading their gang but he knew he was up to the task as his father had been before him. And Betty could still help, just... far from the front lines. No matter what he was not going to get her involved until after he cleaned up his mess.

"I get it. I do," he said kissing her cheek. "I really have no right to ask you to get back with me, to leave him, any of that... especially when I hurt you so badly. I guess when I thought I was protecting you, I was really doing the opposite."

Betty looked at him thoughtfully because he was finally getting it. She had loved him so much she would have done anything for him. She didn't need protection. She had figured out everything life had been throwing at her; she just needed some support. Sweet Pea had been that support; and ultimately, that was what mattered to her. She would give him some time, the time he deserved, before she brought up what was bothering her again.

"Yeah," she responded. "I'm actually really grateful that we talked this out though. I think it helped me feel a little better. We needed to clear the air."

"So you're not feeling sick anymore?" he asked. They could hear the bell ring outside of the room and a student opened the door to come in for class. It startled them as they were still standing right by the entrance. The girl waved hello to Betty and she waved back before she and Jughead left the room.

"No, I'm actually feeling pretty good," she said as they walked down the hall into the crowd of students coming from the cafeteria. She could see Sweet Pea and Toni walking together in their direction and she tried to get their attention. Toni saw her hand moving out of the corner of her eye and steered them over to Betty and Jughead. Betty stopped walking so they could talk to them.

"Glad that I could help, I guess," Jughead said to her as he shifted his book bag on his shoulder.

"Hey, you feeling better?" Toni asked Betty as they came up on them.

"Yeah, actually." She took a little step away from Jughead and closer to Sweet Pea who was giving the other boy the evil eye.

"I thought you were going to the office because you were sick?" he questioned.

"I was," she said. "I ended up going to the newspaper room instead; Jughead and I just had some catching up to do. I promise, though, whatever was going on with me, it has passed." He gave her a look like he didn't quite believe her but that wasn't a conversation he really wanted to have in front of Jughead and Toni. "Do you want to walk with me to class? Since we are going to the same place?"

"Yeah, sure."

After the two of them walked away, Jughead let out a deep breath.

"Can you just slap me?" he said, pushing a dangling bit of hair out of his face and covering his eyes for just a moment with both of his hands.

"What are you talking about?"

"I made the biggest fool of myself just now... I deserve it."

"Don't be such a drama queen."

"I know," he said leaning back against a locker. "I'm just an idiot. I laid my cards out on the table and got rejected."

"Did you expect any difference, Jug?" she asked putting a hand on his arm.

"It was worth a try."

"You've got to move on. Obviously she has."

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah. Let's get to class."

She nodded and the two of them headed off in the direction of their history class.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

By lunchtime on Friday, Betty was starting to get frustrated. She and Sweet Pea had hardly seen each other outside of school; he was getting called over Serpent matters every night, keeping him out until all hours. They had a few late night phone conversations, which had been her drink of water in the desert because they were mostly just seeing each other any time they could at school, which of course, meant with other people. Late at night, in the dark, they had begun to whisper their secrets to one another and as he opened up to her about his past and memories of his family, she was realizing that she was seeing his true self, not the hard exterior that he showed to the others. Getting to know him on that level felt so intimate and she could feel herself falling harder. But even though he was being so open to her in private, he was still being protective with the knowledge of their relationship to other and even though Betty was trying to give him time to get more comfortable, it was getting difficult. She tried to rely on her confidence in his words, knowing that he cared for her, to keep her from spiraling back into the thoughts that he was embarrassed of her and so on, but she didn't have to look that deeply into her self to know that she was also being insecure.

When she walked into the cafeteria, she made a bee line to him and the other Serpents. Betty sat down and pressed her leg into his while she got out her lunch. She just had to touch him somehow and she could almost feel electricity passing between their point of contact. He pressed back into her leg with his own and gave her a little nod.

She really wanted to see if she could get him to sneak out with her. She wanted to have some time alone with him, maybe even to talk through the things that were weighing on her. She took out her phone and typed a quick message. Sweet Pea reached for his phone, read the message, and then put his phone away. He had been hoping to talk to her too but he wasn't sure how to go about it either. He thought for a moment before coming up with an idea.

"Hey. Didn't you have that thing of mine in your desk at the newspaper?"

"Um?" Betty questioned before catching on. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot. Come with me to go grab it?"

"Of course," he said standing up and getting his lunch tray together. Betty did the same and grabbed her backpack so they could go. Toni rolled her eyes at how obvious they were being. Even Jughead let out a snicker before Toni elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up.

When they got into the hallway she starting walking so close to him they kept bumping arms.

"Stay in your lane over there, Cooper. I might start to think that you have a crush on me."

"Maybe I do," she said only soft enough for both of them to hear. She could see his neck was red from embarrassment and she was somewhat proud of herself for making him blush.

When they got to the door, Betty went to turn the handle but she could see to other students were inside working on the computers. "Shoot. There are people in there. Where can we go?"

"Maybe a study room in the library?" he suggested.

"How do you know about the study rooms? You've studied in the library?"

"Not exactly," he said with a wink.

"You're an animal," she said as she playfully slapped his arm.

The two went and they were able to find a study alcove that was unoccupied and the two sat facing each other not saying anything for a moment. Finally, Betty was the one to speak first.

"I've missed you this week. When is Jughead going to give you parole?"

"As of last night, I'm free. I don't think I will have to be running anymore of those errands for FP. We made sure of it."

Betty had not been privy to what had been going on with the other young Serpents as she had gone to cheer practice instead of Jughead's meeting after school on Monday. She was a bit curious but they had all been hush hush about it; she just had to get over it.

"Thank God."

"Maybe you'd want to go for a ride tomorrow? Get out of here for a day, just you and me?"

"I think I can make that happen. I just- Can you please just hold me for a while?"

Sweet Pea thought about it for second before scooting his chair next to hers and putting his arm around her. She cradled her head onto his shoulder and tried to breathe. She had been squeezing her hands so tight into each other but now she opened them to put her hand in his free one. He wanted time to talk to her and here it was; but could he really say what was on his mind? He sat and played with the sleeve of her shirt as he thumbed over her arm.

"Am I the right person for you?" he wondered out loud.

That took Betty aback. She blinked for a moment thinking to herself. How was she to know the answer to _that_ question? Here she was thinking they would just be talking about going public but here he's talking about are they meant to b

e together! Not that she wasn't serious about Sweet Pea but it seemed kind of soon to be having a conversation about their future when she had been concerned about their now. She took a breath to keep her cool as she considered what a question like that meant. Him worrying about their future meant he was considering that they would have one, something she considered a good sign. She mulled over how she wanted to answer him for a moment before she spoke.

"Maybe you are. I don't know yet."

"What happens if I'm not? Is this just a waste?"

"Way to ruin the moment."

He let out a groan and ran his fingers through his hair with exasperation. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "I don't know why I am like this."

"You've been let down a lot I suppose."

"I guess."

"And you like being in control."

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"OK, yeah. I like to be in control, show no fear, all of that," he said kissing her on the top of the head. "Do you know what scares me the most?"

"Hmm?"

"You. You terrify me because I have never had feelings like this."

Betty blinked a couple of times to process what was being said. "Don't be scared. I like you," she responded.

"I like you, too... and it freaks me out."

"Maybe... we kind of went backwards, you know?"

"Yeah. Probably not how most people end up together."

Betty looked at him thoughtfully and swallowed. She pulled together all her courage to take the conversation where she had really wanted it to go all along.

"I think we need to tell people." She paused to gauge his reaction. His face was just blank so she continued. "It hurts that I feel like you are hiding me."

"That's not it," he asked. He now had a nervous look on his face.

"What is it then? Why are you so nervous to tell people we are together? Your reputation and everything? Or is because you know..." she got quiet, "they call me Saint Betty?"

"I've been thinking about this a lot, actually. I hate that I have even cared what people think. I'm never like that and I have to be honest, I've been nervous about being seen a certain way. Like weak or emotional. But I am not embarrassed of you. Not at all." He leaned over and gave her a deep kiss. "It has just has been my ego and you are very right; I need to just get over it and tell people. Especially when you are so perfect."

"I am NOT perfect," she said brushing a hair out of her face.

"Seriously, Betty. You are beautiful. And you are so much smarter than me. And you are funny. So funny. You make an asshole like me laugh. And you are stronger than you think."

"Sweet Pea-"

"No, listen. You are exactly what I want. If I ever pictured my dream girl, I never would have thought of you by a long shot. But now that I'm with you, I can't see myself having anything different.

"I'm, um, flattered."

"You should be," he said rubbing his hand up and down her thigh reassuringly. "I have never said any of that stuff to a girl."

"You always surprise me."

"You too, Cooper."

Sweet Pea stood and put out his hand to help her stand. When she got up asked if she looked presentable and he said yes. When he turned she took his hand and put it in hers. He looked down at their hands. He like the look of their hands together; his hard and calloused, hers soft and porcelain. It was a perfect representation of themselves. He squeezed her hand and said, "no time like the present, huh? Time to man up and face the firing squad."

"I thought you weren't embarrassed by me?"

"I'm not. But you know I'm about to get my balls busted, right? No matter what I am going to be hearing about this for a while."

"Maybe you deserve it," she said while laughing.

"Probably. But I think this is worth it."


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 31 (part 2)

It felt so good to Betty for the two of them to walk down the hallway together with Sweet Pea's arm around her. She smiled to herself as she thought about everything he had said about her. He had said she was perfect, and even though she felt far from it, and her heart swelled knowing that he regarded her that way. Yes, their relationship was in it's infancy and they would eventually have hiccups, but for right now, it was exactly right.

Sweet Pea himself was happy, ecstatic even. Having Betty next to him was everything but having to face his friends had him riddled with nerves but he was trying to shove them down. How hard could it be to tell his friends that he was dating someone? He'd been harassed, beat up, and put in all sorts of sticky situations since he had been a Serpent but this was more nerve wracking to him than even a dangerous job. He had to remind himself that he kept saying that Betty was special, so now it was really time for him to show her.

When they headed back to the cafeteria, there wasn't much time left before the bell rang but it was still packed with students. Sweet Pea had expected the scene to unfold like a teen movie; everyone's heads would turn simultaneous and look at them as they walked in the room, people would stop talking mid sentence, someone would see them and trip and spill their food; but none of that happened at all. In fact, no one even paid attention to them until they got to the lunch table with their friends. The two of them sat back down in their seats but he intentionally left his arm slung over her shoulder.

Their audience noticed pretty quickly and it got quiet. It seemed no one wanted to be the first person to say something about it; but Fangs was already suspicious with the way Sweet Pea had been acting so he figured he might as well just ask his friend what was going on.

"So... Is there something that you two would like to share with the rest of the class?" he asked.

Betty could feel her face turning red from being the center of attention. She looked to Sweet Pea for some back up as she found that her voice was gone. He lightly squeezed her shoulder before he answered for them.

"Well..." he said with a wince but then a breath followed by a confident smirk, "... If it is everyone's business, Betty and I are... together."

"So is this a thing again?" he asked blatantly.

"Well, yes," Betty answered trying desperately to make herself smaller. This was more uncomfortable for her than she expected but she needed to stay strong. She had been beat up enough this week and she didn't want to take it anymore, especially not from her friends. "I really like him."

"And you?" Fangs continued, "Sweet Pea, you're ready to hang it up for a girl? For real?"

"Yeah. I mean, yeah."

He took his hand and ruffled Sweet Pea's hair. "Our son here is growing up boys," he said and Sweet Pea smiled sheepishly. This is how it starts, he thought to himself. He took his arm away from around Betty and got up out of his seat. Most of the boys got up and they were doing some weird fake punching each other thing that Betty really didn't understand but she did laugh at the way they were ragging on him. Toni went over and sat in Sweet Pea's seat and put her hand of Betty's arm.

"Finally! Do you know what made him change his mind?" she asked.

"Truly I think he just got over being nervous. He was kind of getting ahead of himself; thinking about our break up before we even really got to know each other. I assured him how much I like him and everything and that seemed to help. Once we were over that, his normal, fearless self just took back over. And he was fully expecting _this_ ," she said pointing at the boys' display and her and Toni giggled.

"Well I hope you guys make it, because if you guys break up, I don't think I can handle whatever plan you'd come up with to get this one back," she joked.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Betty said with a smile.

"No problem," she said grabbing her books. "Walk with me to class?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Sweet Pea saw the girls leaving and yelled for them to wait up. He could hear Fangs making a whip cracking sound behind him but he didn't care. Betty was his girl and now he could care less who knew.


	33. Epilogue

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reading, this was so fun to write! Please enjoy this final installment. Warning: fluff ahead! I have also started posting a sequel entitled 'Formalities' if you want to check it out!

Epilogue

(A few months later)

Sweet Pea liked the way Betty looked after she got done working. Her hair was always mussed, with stray strands coming out of her pony tail, making it look like she had a frizzy crown. She was usually clothed in some dorky overall get up that he had grown to love. It was a cold day in December and snow was just starting to kiss their small town. A lot of the Serpents were getting ready to winterize or store their bikes so Anderson's Garage business was really booming, keeping Betty long hours at an FP arranged apprenticeship. 8 o'clock was closing time, so Sweet Pea had walked over to pick her up so they could go back to his place to do some homework, which was something he did now on the regular. He was finding that Betty kept him on his toes at everything in his life but especially at in school and he was finding out he was kind of smart. Maybe not writing and everything, that was still her thing, but he was learning that numbers just made sense to him and was doing well in his math and science classes. He used to look at school like a prison with irritating, preppy inmates and he couldn't wait until he was 18 and he could just drop out; but now, he was looking forward to actually graduating. Betty had the biggest smile when she saw he had gotten back his last history quiz and he had earned an A. She rewarded him with a fun night of camaraderie with friends and then a party for just the two of them featuring the sexiest lingerie he could imagine.

He saw her through the window now and she was washing her hands and unclasping her overalls revealing what she had been wearing to school underneath. She saw him as she was putting on her leather jacket and waved, then put on a baby blue scarf to match her gloves and hat that she pulled out of her pocket. Only his girlfriend could pull off an adorable biker aesthetic. Sweet Pea wrung his hand together to keep them warm as well as the help stave off some nerves. Things had been going so well since they had started dating but a lot of things had changed, not just his homework habit. FP was actually retiring as president of their gang and was leaving it in the hands of Jughead, who was proving to be an adequate leader. He listened to anyone who had a complaint and often asked Sweet Pea's advice or for his help in certain matters. There was still some unrest on the Southside but it was nothing that a united Serpent club couldn't handle together. Betty's mom had been coming around the Whyte Wyrm more often, just hanging around with FP and passively mothering some of the kids that lived there. Betty and her mom were mostly getting along now as her dad had moved out into a ShareBnB for what seemed like permanency. He even thought Alice approved of him a little and that was a huge step for his relationship with Betty. Truly, though, the biggest revelation of all was that he had fallen so hard in love with her. That was something they had just started saying and it was hard for him to imagine sometimes that she really loved him back, but then she would look at him and give him this big grin, just like she was doing now and he would know it was real. That's what was prompting him to be nervous; Tonight he had something he wanted to talk to her about and he hoped that it was something that she wanted too.

Betty said good night to Mr. Anderson as he locked up the shop for the night and turned to give him a bear hug hello. She kissed him gently as flakes started to waft from the sky. He brushed a few from her bangs and then took her hand to head off, making small talk on the way. The streetlights were on and the sky almost looked brown from the moisture of the snow mixing in the halo of the light around them.

"So how was work?" he asked her, their arms lightly swinging as they walked.

"It was really good. I am learning so much stuff it is kind of making my head spin, but I'm still having a lot of fun."

"My girl," he said pulling her in for another kiss. His heart raced feeling her against him, from lust and nerves.

Betty sighed before pulling away, but while doing so she insisted it was only because they would catch hypothermia if they keep stopping. He promised to behave and picked up their pace to get to the bar a little quicker.

When they arrived, Toni and Jughead were there eating a late dinner and they waved them over to join. They stopped at their table for a moment but declined to stay so that they could do some stuff for school and they could use the rest of the weekend to get stuff done. As they were walking away Jughead yelled that they better actually get some homework done this time because they had work tomorrow.

When they got to his room they took off their winter clothes and jackets and sat down on his bed. It was only half made, one of his bad habits, but Betty didn't comment, and instead wiggled her way under the comforter to get warm. That to him, was the cutest thing and he couldn't help but chuckle. But it was time to talk so he took a breath to get it off of his chest.

"So I did something kind of crazy," he started.

Betty cocked her head to the side and said, "OK?"

"And if you don't want to, I understand," he continued, "but I bought these tickets... so would you go to the winter formal at school with me?"

"Of course I'd go with you, silly! Why would you think that I would say no?"

"Well, you hadn't brought it up so I wasn't sure if you were interested in going. But I've never been to a school dance and I thought maybe we could go."

"I'd be honored! I'm more surprised that it was even on your radar. I'm sure it's not a Serpent approved activity."

"Well when I was at the basketball game to see you cheer the other day I heard Jughead talking to Archie about whether he and Veronica were going and it just made me think I should go to at least one before we graduate. And it would be nice to see you all dressed up and forget about all this turf stuff that has been going on lately and-"

Betty kissed him hard to keep him from rambling. "Then we should go. Even if it's lame, you should experience some normal teenager stuff from time to time."

"Do you think it's going to be lame?"

"Not if I am there with you. I love you," she said kissing him again.

"What was that?" he asked. "I didn't hear what you said."

"Was it, 'shove it, old man?'" she said pulling him down on top of her.

"MMmm, I think it was more like, 'I love you,'" he said kissing her and laying down next to her.

"I just wanted to hear you say it too."

"Just don't forget it when I have to put on a tie for you."

"Oh I won't," she said putting her head on his chest.

Betty could hear Sweet Pea's heart beating in his chest and it was comforting. She regulated her breath to the rise and fall of his chest and she starting realizing how tired she was after the long day of school and work. He placed a kiss on her head and rubbed her arm lovingly. She was so comfortable that she started to nod off to sleep and he pulled the blanket up over her shoulder to keep her warm. He resigned himself to the fact that he could also use some sleep as well because as he had been reminded, he had to work tomorrow. Jughead had gotten him and a couple of the other guys a decent paying job for every weekend through the holidays working for a local lumber company. It was hard work but he was going to be able to save up a good chunk of it. He knew he was somehow going to have to shoe horn some schoolwork into Sunday night, but for now he would sleep. He pulled Betty's phone out of her jacket that was slung on the chair next to his bed and texted Alice that Betty wasn't coming home. He then turned off his lamp and settled himself in. He placed a small kiss on her temple before closing his own eyes and falling asleep.


End file.
